An apparent methane blast ripped through a coal mine in Siberia early yesterday, killing at least eight miners and trapping dozens more underground, Russian officials said.
Thirteen miners were rescued or made it to the surface on their own after the blast at the Taizhina mine in the Kemerovo region, a duty officer in the regional emergency situations department said. He said rescuers were searching for 31 others.
Regional emergency department spokesman Valery Kovchagin told Ekho Moskvy radio that four of the 13 survivors were hospitalized with moderate injuries and burns, but the duty officer said later that only two miners remained hospitalized.
He said authorities believe a methane blast occurred at a depth of 560m, causing damage in the mine, and the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted mine director Valery Naumkin as saying its effects were hindering rescue efforts.
NTV television reported that rescuers were trying to reach the blast site from a neighboring mine and that voices could be heard from the rubble. Officials said they did not know how long the rescue operation would take.
Citing regional emergency officials, ITAR-Tass said the blast was not believed to have caused major structural damage or a fire. Channel One television said the site of the blast was five 5km from Taizhina's main shaft.
Kemerovo region governor Aman Tuleyev arrived at the scene to oversee rescue operations, ITAR-Tass reported.
Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry, and miners stage frequent protests over wage delays and declining safety standards.
In September 2002, one miner at Taizhina was killed and two were seriously injured when the roof of a ventilation shaft collapsed during reconstruction work, showering them with rocks.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
‘EAST SHIELD’: State-run Belma said it would produce up to 6 million mines to lay along Poland’s 800km eastern border, and sell excess to nations bordering Russia and Belarus Poland has decided to start producing anti-personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War, and plans to deploy them along its eastern border and might export them to Ukraine, the deputy defense minister said. Joining a broader regional shift that has seen almost all European countries bordering Russia, with the exception of Norway, announce plans to quit the global treaty banning such weapons, Poland wants to use anti-personnel mines to beef up its borders with Belarus and Russia. “We are interested in large quantities as soon as possible,” Deputy Minister of National Defense Pawel Zalewski said. The mines would be part
RSS