KYIV, Ukraine—Methane blasts inside mines in Russia’s Kemerovo region in Siberia over the weekend killed 32 miners and left 58 unaccounted for. On Monday the families of the workers still in the mines received the grim news that there was little hope of finding their loved ones.
Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement that efforts to rescue the 58 miners still inside would continue, but that “there is less hope of finding the people alive in the future.”
The first explosion in the Raspadskaya mine happened Saturday night; 359 miners were underground, though most managed to get out. The second blast came several hours later and trapped 20 rescue workers inside.
The rescue efforts were then suspended in anticipation of more explosions.
The cause of the blasts is as yet unclear, but Russian officials say they are investigating the possibility of criminal negligence. The Russian ministry of Emergencies has a detailed timeline of the events since the explosion.
Earlier on Monday the region governor stated that groundwater could flood the mine in the next 48 hours.
Rescue work is also extending further afield. “It is necessary for the 195-mile-long route to be investigated for where people may be,” the Emergencies minister said.
The relatives of the miners do not have enough information about the investigation, BBC reported. Russian officials said they would pay compensation for those who were injured and for the families of killed relatives.
The Raspadskaya mine has experienced incidents for the last 10 years; previously a methane blast killed four people.
The Kemerovo region, in barren and isolated western Siberia, is host to most of the country’s coal seams, and is the center of the metallurgic and chemical industries in Russia.
The catastrophe is the first to occur in mines the region in the last three years, since the incident in the Yubileinaya mine in 2007, which killed 39 people, including rescue workers.
The biggest disaster in Russian mine accidents occurred in the same year in the Ulyanovskaya mine, when a methane blast killed 110 people. Two workers were later convicted of nonobservance of safety standards.
Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement that efforts to rescue the 58 miners still inside would continue, but that “there is less hope of finding the people alive in the future.”
The first explosion in the Raspadskaya mine happened Saturday night; 359 miners were underground, though most managed to get out. The second blast came several hours later and trapped 20 rescue workers inside.
The rescue efforts were then suspended in anticipation of more explosions.
The cause of the blasts is as yet unclear, but Russian officials say they are investigating the possibility of criminal negligence. The Russian ministry of Emergencies has a detailed timeline of the events since the explosion.
Earlier on Monday the region governor stated that groundwater could flood the mine in the next 48 hours.
Rescue work is also extending further afield. “It is necessary for the 195-mile-long route to be investigated for where people may be,” the Emergencies minister said.
The relatives of the miners do not have enough information about the investigation, BBC reported. Russian officials said they would pay compensation for those who were injured and for the families of killed relatives.
The Raspadskaya mine has experienced incidents for the last 10 years; previously a methane blast killed four people.
The Kemerovo region, in barren and isolated western Siberia, is host to most of the country’s coal seams, and is the center of the metallurgic and chemical industries in Russia.
The catastrophe is the first to occur in mines the region in the last three years, since the incident in the Yubileinaya mine in 2007, which killed 39 people, including rescue workers.
The biggest disaster in Russian mine accidents occurred in the same year in the Ulyanovskaya mine, when a methane blast killed 110 people. Two workers were later convicted of nonobservance of safety standards.
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