20 mine workers dead, 17 missing in Ukraine
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Rescuers smoke as they take a break at Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine in the Lugansk region in Ukraine on Friday. Alexander Khudoteply / Agence France-Presse |
LUGANSK, Ukraine -Twenty miners died and another 17 were missing on Friday in two separate accidents at coal mines in the east of Ukraine, an industrial region notorious for its mining safety record.
The twin disasters were the country's worst mining accidents since more than 100 miners were killed in a mine explosion in 2007.
President Viktor Yanukovych interrupted his vacation and was expected at the Lugansk mine, which is run by a private holding controlled by Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man who bankrolled his 2010 presidential campaign.
Yanukovych also cancelled plans to attend the Formula 1 Power Boat Grand Prix near Kiev, his administration said.
At least 16 miners were killed instantly as a result of an explosion at the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine in the eastern Lugansk region early on Friday, the emergencies ministry said.
Another three workers suffered burns and other injuries and were hospitalized, it said. One of the injured died later of his wounds.
The two injured were in a grave condition, said Pavel Malysh, top health official for the Lugansk region, noting they suffered from a combination of burns and head injuries.
"We're are doing our best to save them," he said.
"The fate of nine miners remains unknown," said the Kiev-based emergencies ministry in a statement, adding that a total of 28 people were working at the pit when the explosion occurred at 1:57 am local time on Friday.
The Lugansk regional administration, citing preliminary information, said the accident was caused by a methane explosion, which has caused most of the country's past mining disasters.
A separate accident at the state-controlled Bazhanova mine in the town of Makiyivka in the neighboring Donetsk region left three people dead, the emergencies ministry said in a statement.
The emergencies ministry said the tragedy was caused when the 70-meter-high mine headframe, which is used to lower miners down into the mine and bring them up again, collapsed earlier on Friday.
Agence France-Presse
(China Daily 07/30/2011 page7)
