18 die in Russian coal mine blast

An explosion swept through a mine in the coal-rich Kuzbass region of Siberia today, killing at least 18 workers and leaving eight missing in the latest accident to occur in an industry plagued by dilapidated mines, ageing equipment and safety violations.

The blast occurred at the 20-year-old Yesaulskaya mine in the Kemerovo region, 1,850 miles east of Moscow, as miners were trying to prevent a fire from spreading.

“A shock wave came and it hurled us all, thrown into somersaults like in a circus,” miner Andrei Pshenichnikov, his face covered with cuts, said from his hospital bed.

Regional Governor Aman Tuleyev said occasional blasts could still be heard in the shaft, hampering rescue efforts.

The blast was caused by a methane build-up, according to a preliminary investigation.

Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry; in the deadliest disaster last year, a methane blast killed 47 miners in the Kuzbass in April, and 67 miners were killed in a mine explosion in the same region in 1997.