Rescuers searched yesterday for more than 30 Ukranian miners still missing 1,000m underground after a coal mine explosion that left 69 dead.
Another four bodies were recovered by emergency teams working through the night at the site in the industrial heartland of this former Soviet republic, the Ministry for Emergency Situations said.
Twenty-eight mine employees have so far been hospitalized.
President Viktor Yushchenko was expected to visit the site yesterday and three days of mourning were declared in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
The gas explosion occurred early on Sunday deep underground in one of Ukraine's largest coal mines, the Zasyadko mine, which has a long history of such disasters.
Relatives of those still missing endured a sleepless night gathered at the mine's headquarters awaiting news of loved ones, television news showed.
Many were overcome with emotion as officials periodically emerged to read out the latest names of the dead.
Several voiced disgust at the hazardous conditions the miners were subjected to for meager salaries, but said there was little alternative employment.
It took most of Sunday to localize the fire that swept through the mine after the blast, while rescue work was also inhibited by collapsed construction material, the Ukrainian Kommersant newspaper reported.
The paper said the explosion appeared to have been sparked by work to bore out a shaft that was intended to clear gas from the area concerned.
A massive rescue operation has been under way at the mine, where 456 people were working at the time of the incident.
The chief doctor attending the injured, Yevgeny Gadchuk, said the hospitalized miners were suffering from methane inhalation.
"They're in a state of shock," the doctor said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who comes from the region, was overseeing the government's response to the accident and promised to establish the cause.
President Yushchenko said in a statement before his visit: "I am grieving with all of Ukraine."
Ukraine's coal mines are concentrated in the eastern part of the country and are considered among the most perilous in the world, with many poorly financed and employing outdated Soviet-era equipment.
The Zasyadko mine, one of Ukraine's largest, employs some 10,000 people and produces up to 10,000 tonnes of coal every day.
It has gained a reputation as one of the most dangerous in the country.
In 1999 an explosion there claimed 50 lives, while in 2001 another blast left 55 people dead.
A gas leak in September last year killed 13 miners and made dozens more sick.
Most of the disasters were caused by build-ups of methane gas, which can occur suddenly in the mine shafts.
Wages at most Ukrainian mines depend on the volume of coal produced, which gives miners an incentive to ignore safety procedures that would halt work when methane levels are high, said Anatoly Akimochkin, deputy head of Ukraine's Independent Miners' Union.
"Everyone tries not to pay attention to small problems in the safety equipment," Akimochkin said. "The pay system is one of the biggest causes of our accidents."
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS