Methane blast rips through Siberia mine

On May 18 a methane gas explosion ripped through a Siberian coal mine where 132 miners were working, leaving one dead and 10 with burns and other injuries, the mine's director, Yuri Kurtabashev, told Itar-Tass. All 10 injured were hospitalized.

"Ten out of 11 miners who stayed near the epicenter of the explosion were brought to surface. They have injuries and burns. One miner was killed," a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry said. Previous reports said that the last miner was alive.

The explosion hit section 5 of mine No. 12 at 13:30 Moscow time.

Seven rescue teams were at the site of the blast at the coal mine in Kisilyovsk in the coal-rich Kemerovo region, about 1,850 miles east of Moscow, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Initial report incorrect

"It took rescue workers 2.5 hours to bring 131 men to the surface, including six suffering burns of various degrees. The last missing miner was found eventually alive and rescue workers are about to take him to safety," the Emergency Situations Ministry was quoted saying a few hours before announcing the last miner was dead and 10, not six, miners had been injured.

Immediately after the blast the local authorities formed a crisis management center under first deputy governor Valentin Mazikin. Itar-Tass reported that all operations at the mine had been suspended and an investigation of what caused the accident was under way.

"12 is the oldest and the most explosion hazardous in the town," RIA Novosti press service reported May 19. "Two main versions are being considered: an explosion and methane outburst."

Criminal case opened

The condition of one of the miners in the hospital is very serious, according to Ilgiz Galeyev, the head of the Kemerovo center of the Medicine of Catastrophes public service, RIA Novosti reported

Kiselevsk's Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal case, its press office said.

"The criminal case was opened under part 2 of article 216 of Russia's Criminal Code, i.e. On the Violations of Security Rules for Mining," reported RIA Novosti.

Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry, which since the breakup of the Soviet Union has lacked public or private funds to invest in safety equipment and technical upgrades.

More than 20 miners were killed in a February explosion in the region. The deadliest disaster in Russia last year was a methane blast that killed 47 miners in the Kemerovo region in April. Sixty-seven miners were killed in a mine explosion in the same region in 1997.