Majority of miners trapped after explosion at Russia’s largest coal mine rescued

May 9th, 2010 - 2:44 am ICT by BNO News  

KEMEROVO, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) — An explosion on late Saturday struck a coal mine in Kemerovo, Russia while more than 200 people were at work underground, according to local media.

The Interfax news agency cited the Ministry of Emergency Situations as saying that the explosion happened at a mine in the industrial city of Kemerovo, east-northeast of Novosibirsk in Kemerovo Oblast. The mine is operated by Raspadskaya and is the country’s largest.

Russia Today television reported that about 200 people were working underground when the accident happened, which is believed to have been a methane explosion. The television station reported that at least 137 miners were rescued safely, although four of them were injured.

In March 2007, a methane explosion at the Ulyanovskaya longwall coal mine in Kemerovo Oblast killed at least 108 people.

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