Water rises in Russia diamond mine as 8 still remain trapped

MOSCOW: Fears mounted on Thursday for eight miners trapped in a flooded Russian diamond mine for almost a week as water levels rose inside, hampering desperate rescue efforts.

“The water level is continuing to rise in the Mir mine where rescuers have been searching for eight workers for six days,” the emergency situations ministry said in a statement, warning that the water is “gradually filling up” the tunnels.

On Friday a torrent of water rushed through the tunnels of the Mir mine owned by Alrosa, Russia’s largest diamond producer, after leaking through from a vast disused crater containing some 300,000 cubic metres of water, or the equivalent of 120 Olympic-size swimming pools. At the time, 151 miners were working at the site in the Sakha region of Siberia, some 4,000 kilometres east of Moscow.

Of these, 142 were immediately evacuated and one emerged a day later, suffering from hypothermia. Attempts to communicate with the other eight have been unsuccessful.

Rescuers have struggled to explore tunnels blocked by huge amounts of clay swept through by the flood while water is continuing to enter the mine from the crater, despite efforts to pump it out.

Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Vladlen Aksyonov said on Thursday that “the majority of the mine tunnels are completely flooded. We are continuing our work to rescue people, but I repeat, the situation is very complex.”

Alrosa said in a statement on Thursday that the accumulation of water in the crater that then enters the mine “does not allow rescuers to work safely.”

It said it is now trying to drop in large objects to dam the water.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal probe into possible violations of safety rules at the mine, which could lead to a jail term of three years. Meduza independent news site late on Wednesday published a transcript of a recording it was given by an anonymous source of a meeting at which rescuers explained the situation to angry relatives of the missing men.

— AFP