Asia-Pacific
60 dead in Russian mine blast, 30 missing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-05-12 18:08
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 Relatives and friends of a victim of an underground explosion at the Raspadskaya mine take part in a funeral ceremony in the town of Mezhdurechensk in the Kemerovo region in Russia's coal-rich Kuzbass May 11, 2010. [Agencies] |
MOSCOW - Rescuers working through the night found eight bodies but no survivors in a stricken Siberian coal mine on Wednesday after powerful weekend blasts that killed at least 60 people, emergency officials said.
Thirty workers were still missing three days after the explosions in the massive Raspadskaya mine in Mezhdurechensk, in the Kemerovo region about 3,000 km (1,850 miles) east of Moscow.
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An explosion authorities said was a methane gas blast ripped through the mine late on Saturday, followed hours later by a stronger blast that wrecked the mine's main ventilation shaft and badly damaged buildings on the surface.
The disaster was the deadliest in a Russian mine since 110 people died after a methane blast at the Ulyanovskaya mine, also in the coal-rich Kemerovo region, in March 2007.
Shares in mine owner Raspadskaya, Russia's largest stand-along coking coal producer, plunged 23.4 percent on Moscow's MICEX exchange on Tuesday in the first day of trading after the weekend disaster.
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 Relatives mourn near a coffin with a victim of an underground explosion at the Raspadskaya mine during a funeral ceremony at a church in the town of Mezhdurechensk in the Kemerovo region in Russia's coal-rich Kuzbass May 11, 2010. [Agencies] |
Raspadskaya says its mine is Russia's largest underground coal mine, and analysts said the disaster could affect supplies and drive up prices in a tight market.
Raspadskaya produced 13 to 14 percent of total Russian coking coal concentrate output in 2009, supplying Russian steel giants Evraz, MMK and NLMK, Citigroup analysts said in a research note on Tuesday.
Analysts at Troika Dialog said the accident would likely hurt steelmakers Evraz and NLMK in addition to Raspadskaya.
The mine could be out of operation for a month or two and is unlikely to reach full capacity until the fourth quarter of 2010, they said in a research note on Tuesday.
