Update | Dozens killed or missing in coal mine blast in rebel-held eastern Ukraine

Dozens of miners were trapped underground and feared dead after a blast on Wednesday at a coal mine in the eastern Ukrainian rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

Mine officials said the explosion was most likely caused by gas and not linked to fighting at the nearby frontline in the war between Moscow-backed rebels and Ukraine government forces. Nevertheless, Kiev suggested the war had made the disaster worse, accusing the separatists of holding up a rescue effort by restricting access.

Outside the gates of the Zasyadko mine, about 30 relatives clamoured for information about any survivors. A miner injured in the blast mingled with the crowd, his face covered in scratches and one arm hanging motionless by his side, the result of a broken collarbone.

The miner, Sergei Baldayev, said five bodies had so far been retrieved from the area of the blast, in a shaft deep underground.

The sister of one miner who was in the pit at the time of the explosion, Alexei Novoselsky, stood in tears.

“Tell me, are there survivors? Why are you concealing the truth,” she said as a local rescue services employee tried to calm her.