Eight still missing at flooded Russian diamond mine
MOSCOW: Rescuers yesterday helped an injured worker out of a flooded Russian diamond mine but the search continued for eight other still missing in the disaster, mine owners Alrosa said.
Alisher Mirzayev, 36, was in intensive care in a serious but stable condition in hospital suffering from hypothermia, but his life was not in danger, said a statement from the company.
Rescue efforts were continuing for eight other miners reported missing since Friday’s flooding at the Mir mine in Russia’s vast Sakha region some 4,160 kilometres east of Moscow.
The waters broke through into one of the mine’s pumping stations out of a flooded disused crater that contained some 300,000 cubic metres of water, the emergency situations ministry said – the equivalent of 120 Olympicsize swimming pools. The accident happened at around 4.30pm Friday.
It is believed to have been caused by an “uncontrolled increase in the flow of water” out of the mine’s abandoned crater into the underground shaft, Alrosa said.
This was caused by sudden geological processes and the washing away of rocks in the crater, it added, but insisted that all of the mine’s “equipment has been regularly tested”.
The Sakha region’s branch of the Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said in a statement Friday that it was investigating possible safety violations at the mine.
Russian television said the rescue operation at the mine named Mir, or peace in Russian, had been hampered by a power cut that stopped the lift system from working.