52 killed in Siberia coal mine explosion
- Rescuers were forced to halt their search after the underground space was filed with toxic fumes
- This is the deadliest mine accident in Russia since 2010, when two methane explosions and a fire killed 91 people
A devastating explosion in a Siberian coal mine Thursday left 52 miners and rescuers dead about 250 metres (820 feet) underground, Russian officials said.
Hours after a methane gas explosion and fire filled the mine with toxic fumes, rescuers found 14 bodies but then were forced to halt the search for 38 others because of a build-up of methane and carbon monoxide gas from the fire. Another 239 people were rescued.
The state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies cited emergency officials as saying that there was no chance of finding any more survivors in the Listvyazhnaya mine, in the Kemerovo region of southwestern Siberia.
The Interfax news agency cited a representative of the regional administration who also put the death toll from Thursday’s accident at 52, saying they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
It was the deadliest mine accident in Russia since 2010, when two methane explosions and a fire killed 91 people at the Raspadskaya mine in the same Kemerovo region.