Rescue bid for trapped Russian miners as 11 killed and dozens injured in fire

A FIRE at a coal mine in Siberia has killed 11 people and injured more than 40, with dozens of others remaining trapped, authorities said.

Efforts to rescue those trapped in the mine in the Russia region were halted yesterday afternoon because of an explosion threat, and rescuers were rushed out of the mine, administrators told the Interfax news agency. The blaze broke out in the Kemerovo region in southwestern Siberia. Russia’s state Tass news agency cited an unnamed emergency official saying that coal dust caught fire, and smoke quickly filled the Listvyazhnaya mine through the ventilation system.

A total of 285 people were in the mine at the time, Kemerovo governor Sergei Tsivilyov said on messaging app Telegram. He said 35 miners remained trapped underground, and their exact location was unknown.

He added that 49 people with injuries had sought medical assistance. He had earlier reported 60 injured people.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the fire on charges of violating safety regulations that led to deaths. President Vladimir

Putin extended his condolences to the families of the killed miners and ordered the government to offer all necessary assistance to those who were injured.

He sat down for talks with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, during which Mr Vucic offered condolences to the families of the victims. Mr Putin noted that the situation at the mine, “unfortunately, is not getting easier”. “There is a danger to the life of the rescuers. Let’s hope that (they) will manage to save as many people as possible,” he said.

In 2016, 36 miners were killed in a series of methane explosions in a coal mine in Russia’s far north. Afterwards, authorities analysed the safety of the country’s 58 coal mines and declared 20 of them, or 34%, potentially unsafe.