Nine bodies retrieved from Donetsk mine

Donetsk (Ukraine)/ Moscow, March 4

The bodies of nine miners have been found at a coal mine in the eastern Ukrainian rebel stronghold of Donetsk where a blast trapped dozens of people, the regional administration said.

The fate of another 23 miners remains unknown, the administration said in a statement. It said the total death toll, including one miner whose body was found earlier, had now reached 10 people.

Mine officials said the explosion was most likely caused by gas and not linked to fighting at the nearby frontline in the war between Moscow-backed rebels and Ukraine government forces.

Earlier, Kiev had accused the separatists of holding up the rescue effort by restricting access.

Outside the gates of the Zasyadko mine, about 30 relatives clamoured for information about any survivors. A miner injured in the blast, Sergei Baldayev, mingled with the crowd, his face covered in scratches and one arm hanging motionless by his side, the result of a broken collarbone.

The sister of one miner who was in the pit at the time of the explosion, Alexei Novoselsky, stood in tears.

"Tell me, are there survivors? Why are you concealing the truth," she said as a local rescue services employee tried to calm her.

Donetsk has been the scene of heavy fighting between Moscow-backed separatist rebels, who control the region, and forces loyal to the government in Kiev. A ceasefire has sharply reduced the violence in the past week.

The neighbourhood around the mine has come under artillery fire, with fragments from Grad rockets visible on surrounding roads, but mine officials said the explosion was unrelated to the fighting and most likely caused by gas.

In Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said rescue workers had been dispatched by central authorities.

"But the Russian terrorists did not let them reach the scene of the accident," he said, using a term commonly used by Kiev to describe the separatists.

Earlier on Tuesday, some officials had said more than 30 people were killed in the early morning blast, although later officials would not confirm that figure. Rescue services were working to reach the epicentre of the blast, in a shaft deep underground, they said.

Asked what were the chances of trapped miners surviving, a medical worker said: "It's getting smaller and smaller all the time, because of the methane, the hot air, burns to the airways."

She said two buses had been brought to the mine in preparation for carrying away the bodies of the dead.

History

The mine has a history of fatal accidents in the 57 years it has been operating. An explosion at Zasyadko in 2007 killed 106 people. A cemetery next to the pit holds the graves of many miners killed in the past.

"When there's an accident, we bury them all here. Coal is a costly business,” said the head of security at the shaft where Tuesday's blast happened, but did not give his name.

A welder at the mine, who gave his name as Oleg, said outside the entrance: "I've been down the pit for 23 years, and this is the fourth explosion that I can recall. If they didn't get them out straight away, then later they will only retrieve bodies. An explosion is a terrible thing."

The Zasyadko coalmine produced 1.4 million tonnes of coal in 2013. The mine is in the centre of a Donbass region, Ukraine's industrial and coal-producing heartland.

Ukrainian coal production fell 22 percent in 2014 to 65 million tonnes as the conflict disrupted mining operations in the region, leading to some shortages of coal at power plants. — Reuters