At least 19 miners have been killed in an explosion at a coal mine in Ukraine.
At least 21 people were thought to be working 3,557 feet underground at the Zasiadko mine, in Donetsk.
|
|
Ukrainian rescue workers load a stretcher with a dead miner into a truck at the entrance of Zasyadko coal mine in Donetsk Photo: Reuters
|
The Emergency Situations Ministry said 19 bodies have been found as a result of searches. Dozens of rescue teams are at the mine in south east Ukraine, including 17 teams working underground.
The accident is the latest at one of Ukraine's mines, believed to be the most dangerous in the world, where about 3,700 miners have been killed since 1991. This year around 170 miners have been killed.
The Zasiadko mine is considered one of region's most profitable and well-equipped, but 55 workers were killed by a methane gas explosion in August 2001 and 50 miners died in a May 1999 accident.
AP