Blast hits Russia's largest coal mine, 8 dead

MOSCOW: A methane explosion tore through Russia's largest underground coal mine on Saturday, killing eight workers and injuring 24 others, a regional emergency services official said.

A second blast early Sunday forced authorities to suspend rescue operations when contact with 20 rescuers was lost, ITAR-Tass reported.

Sections of the mine are filled with smoke, and rescue crews have suspend operations while they work to clear the air, ITAR-Tass said.

Of the 312 miners who were below ground at the time of the blast, 66 remained about four hours after the explosion and rescue workers were working on bringing them out, said Valery Korchagin, a spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry in the west Siberian region of Kemerovo. He did not have further details.

Later, ITAR-Tass reported that by 3:30 a.m. (local time) 295 miners had been brought out of the mine, and 54 miners and 20 rescuers remained underground.

The mine, the Raspadskaya, produces about 8 million tons (8.8 million short tons) of coal a year, according to the company's website.

The Kemerovo region is about 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of Moscow.

There was no immediate information on what set off the blast. Mine explosions and other industrial accidents are common in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics, and are often blamed on inadequate implementation of safety precautions by companies or by workers themselves.

In December, nine people were killed in an explosion at an iron-roe mine in the Urals Mountains region that was blamed on faulty transportation of explosives.