Twenty-two miners die in Siberian blast

An apparent methane blast ripped through a coal mine in Siberia early today, killing 22 miners and trapping at least 25 others underground, officials said.

Thirteen miners were rescued or made it to the surface on their own, said Valery Korchagin, an emergency department spokesman in the Kemerovo region. He said four of the rescued miners were injured and two of them were hospitalised with burns. At least 25, and as many as 29, miners remained missing, he said.

Kemerovo governor Aman Tuleyev, who was overseeing the rescue operation, said on the shortest path to the blast site deep underground was blocked by what appeared to be impassable rubble, and that rescuers were attempting to reach the area by a longer route from an adjacent mine.

Rescuers were stopping their work occasionally for a minute of silence to allow them to hear any signs of life.

A duty officer at the regional emergency department said authorities believe a methane blast occurred at a depth of 560 meters (1,840 feet). The shaft was reported to be filled with poisonous gases.

Miners who arrived for the next shift but were sent away after the accident, which occurred at about 7am (midnight BST).

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov ordered the government to form a commission to investigate the blast and sent Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko to the accident site, the Interfax news agency reported.

Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry, and miners stage frequent protests over wage delays and declining safety standards. Local prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into negligence of safety standards, state television reported.

In September 2002, one miner at Taizhina was killed and two were seriously injured when the roof of a ventilation shaft collapsed during reconstruction work, showering them with rocks.

More than 600 miners work at the mine in the city of Osinniki, about 1,850 miles east of Moscow in western Siberia’s coal-rich Kuzbass area. It is a new mine, opened in 1998.