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11 dead in Siberian mine blast
At least 11 people died in a methane explosion at Russia's largest underground coal mine on Saturday while rescue workers desperately trying to reach 54 miners trapped underground also became trapped after a second blast tore through the Raspadskaya mine in Siberia . Another 24 workers were injured in the blast in the Kemerovo region, while around 300 miners emerged alive, according to Valery Korchagin, a regional emergency official. Itar-Tass, the state news agency reported that after the second blast contact with 20 rescuers had been lost and their fate was unknown. A source at Raspadskaya, the company that owns the mine, told reporters that 74 people were still underground 54 miners and their rescuers. The second blast destroyed the main air shaft and caused more injuries, and there was a risk of more explosions, Aman Tuleyev, the Governor of Kemerovo, 190 miles east of Moscow, told reporters. The mine in the city of Mezhdurechensk had reserves of about 450 million tons of coal and produced 8.9 million tons in 2007, according to the Raspadskaya company. It says that the pit is the largest underground mine in Russia. Posted by: lotp 2010-05-10 |
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