Five dead in mine blast

An explosion at a mine in southwest Romania killed at least five miners and injured five others today, authorities said. Two miners were missing.

The explosion occurred at 0530 (3.30am Irish Time) at the state-owned coal mine in Anina when methane gas leaked into the mine shaft, local police said in a statement.

About 70 miners were in the shaft at the time, authorities said. Five miners - ranging in age from 27 to 42 years – were killed. Two miners were taken to hospital with burns; three others were treated and released, police said.

Two other miners were unaccounted for, and high gas levels forced rescue crews to sspend the search for them.

Economy Minister Codrut Seres said the injured would be transported to a hospital in the southwest city of Timisoara.

He met the mine’s managers and relatives of the dead and injured today. He said the victims’ families would receive at least eight months’ salary compensation, the news agency Mediafax reported.

President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu also were to travel to the mine today.

The coal mine, 250 miles west of Bucharest, employs 544 miners and is more than 3,300ft deep, making it one of the deepest mines in the region.

The mine has been operational for more than 200 years.

Local authorities said some 1,000 miners have died since the mine opened in 1792, the worst accident being an explosion in 1920 when 270 miners died.