13 miners rescued in Siberia

Rescuers working in the Taizhina mine in the Kemerovo region (Siberia) have rescued another five miners, spokesman for the Kemerovo civil defence and emergencies department Valery Korchagin told RIA Novosti.

"They are undergoing medical examination," he said.

The total number of rescued miners has reached 13. Three of them are in hospital.

Six miners died, and the fate of 33 miners is unknown.

Rescuers are searching for the other miners. Their efforts are complicated by the fact that electricity has been cut off in the mine.

The accident in the Taizhina mine in Osinniki, south of the Kemerovo region, took place at 6.55 am local time (2.55 Moscow time) today.

An operative staff, headed by Kuzbass governor Aman Tuleyev, has been set up in Osinniki to deal with the accident.

Tuleyev is now at the site of the accident.

Korchagin also said that a group of officers and rescuers of the emergencies ministry's Siberian headquarters headed by Lieutenant General Sergei Salov had been delegated from Krasnoyarsk (the administrative centre of the Kemerovo region) to the scene.

Staffers of the disaster medicine centre have been also sent to the site of the accident.