Bid to save Russian miners
2004-04-11 09:41
Moscow - Rescuers are working against the clock in a desperate bid to save 11 miners trapped underground by an explosion in a pit in southern Siberia. The blast killed at least 35
other miners.
Methane gas caused the explosion 560 metres underground the Taizhina pit in Russia's Kuzbass mining area, Sergei Baraksanov, a spokesperson for the Kemerovo region said.
The blast sparked a fire underground and caused the shaft to collapse in several places. Rescuers who eventually got to the scene found 35 bodies.
About 150 workers, some from the nearby city of Krasnoyarsk, were drafted in to help the rescue effort, which continued through the night in a bid to reach the trapped men.
Wearing gas marks to protect themselves from the carbon dioxide in the air, they approached from an adjacent mine because of the damage to the shaft.