Two dead, 120 missing after explosion at Russia’s largest coal mine rescued

May 9th, 2010 - 3:14 am ICT by BNO News  

KEMEROVO, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) — An explosion on late Saturday struck a coal mine in Kemerovo, Russia while more than 300 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 before 9 p.m. local time at a mine in the industrial city of Kemerovo, east-northeast of Novosibirsk in Kemerovo Oblast. The coal mine is operated by Raspadskaya and is the country’s largest.

The RIA Novosti news agency reported that a total of 312 miners were working underground when the accident happened, which is believed to have been a methane explosion. The agency reported that at least 188 miners were rescued safely, while four of them were injured. A group of 120 people are feared to have been trapped.

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

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