13 killed in Siberian mine blast

Thirteen coal miners died after an explosion ripped through a coal mine early today in western Siberia, officials said.

The blast in the Listvyazhnaya mine in the town of Belov, in the Kemerovo region 1,850 miles east of Moscow, was apparently caused by a methane build-up, according to Lyudmila Krylova, a spokeswoman for the local branch of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry.