Gas blast kills 17 in Russian mine

TV-grab from Russian NTV channel taken yesterday shows rescue workers resting outside the Yesaulskaya mine in the Kemerovo region, some 3000 km east of Moscow. PHOTO: AFP

Local rescue officials quoted by news agencies had earlier reported that four miners and six rescuers were killed in the mine in Kuzbass.

But the death toll suddenly climbed to 17 as more bodies were recovered from the scene, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in Moscow told AFP. Four people were injured, one of whom was hospitalized.

Over 30 miners and rescuers were underground at the time of the blast, walling off the mine's old shafts.

A fire had broken out on Tuesday in the mine, which explained the presence of rescue personnel.

The blast in the Kemerovo region was the latest disaster to strike Russia's coal mining industry, which is largely unprofitable, suffering from chronic under funding and notoriously accident-prone.

The coal-rich Kemerevo region has taken the brunt of the accidents, usually caused by methane explosions.