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 Post subject: Siberian Mine Blast Kills 102; 8 Missing
PostPosted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:12 am 
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Siberian Mine Blast Kills 102; 8 Missing
By MISHA JAPARIDZE
AP
NOVOKUZNETSK, Russia (AP) - Rescuers on Tuesday searched for eight miners missing nearly a day after a methane gas explosion in a Siberian coal mine that killed at least 102 others. It was Russia's deadliest mining disaster in a decade.

Some 200 workers were in the Ulyanovskaya mine in the coal-rich region known as the Kuzbass at the time of the blast, which occurred early Monday at a depth of around 885 feet, emergency and regional officials said.

Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Polina Avyazova told The Associated Press that 102 miners were confirmed dead and that the search was continuing for eight who remained missing; 93 had been rescued earlier.

Company officials and safety experts, along with a British citizen and his interpreter, were in the mine examining a British-made hazard monitoring system just before the blast occurred, said Sergei Cheremnov, a spokesman for the regional government in Kemerovo where the mine is located.

The British man and the interpreter were later confirmed dead. Cheremnov said it was unclear exactly what he was doing in the mine.

The massive mine in the city of Novokuznetsk, about 1,850 miles east of Moscow, is operated by Yuzhkuzbassugol, an affiliate of Russian coal and steel company Evraz Group SA, which acquired a 50 percent stake in the company in 2005.

No one answered repeated calls to the company. However, company spokesman Eduard Sivtsov earlier told Russian television channel NTV that rescuers were checking a large section of the mine for survivors.

"Their work is complicated by a great number of obstructions," he said.

President Vladimir Putin ordered Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu to travel to the area, and the industrial regulatory agency Rostekhnadzor had sent investigators.

The mine is located in the city Novokuznetsk, the site of two of the deadliest mine disasters in the past decade. In 2004, a blast at a mine on the outskirts of the city killed 47 workers and in 1997, a methane explosion killed 67.

Russia's mining industry fell into disrepair when government subsidies dried up after the Soviet collapse. At least 30 workers died in Russian mining accidents last year, including 25 killed in a fire at a Siberian gold mine.

In the U.S. last year, 47 workers died in coal mine accidents, including 12 in the Sago Mine accident in West Virginia. It was the U.S industry's deadliest year since 1995, when 47 were killed.

In recent years, conglomerates such as Evraz SA have bought up coal mines and similar enterprises and consolidated operations, selling raw and semi-processed material to steel smelters, electricity producers and other major industry. But some government officials in the past have accused private companies of cutting corners on safety measures in order to cut costs.

According to the Evraz Web site, Yuzhkuzbassugol was Russia's leading producer of coking coal, comprising 24 enterprises, including nine coal mines, two enriching plants and other operations supplying coking coal to steel and byproduct plants.

Yuzhkuzbassugol's total production in 2005 was 14 million tons) of coking coal and 4.4 million tons of steam coal.

Alexander Sergeyev, chairman of the Independent Coal Miners' Union, said the Ulyanovskaya mine operated with new equipment, but he said that human and natural factors always created the potential for accidents.

He said miners may have encountered a pocket of methane while working and he called for new safety regulations to help minimize the chance of such incidents.

"It's necessary, in my view, to pass legislation forbidding underground coal mining without the required (ventilation) from the surface for methane," he said in comments to Ekho Moskvy radio.

Sergeyev also blamed the blast on quota systems that encourage miners to work faster and harvest more coal, potentially leading to careless and fatal errors.

The families of the dead each will receive at least $25,000 in compensation, Kemerovo Gov. Aman Tuleyev was quoted by ITAR-Tass news agency.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:20 am 
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Location: Charleston, WV
Glad we have no methane in the mine where I work. :D

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:15 am 
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Location: Hard coal region, PA
wow thats a huge loss...

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:25 pm 
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Location: Above the Sterling Hill Mine
Yes, I have read about this. Very upsetting.. It is terrible to see accidents like this..

Miner Greg


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