Government commission starts investigation of accident at Severnaya mine

A government commission led by Vladimir Artemyev, deputy head of the Federal Technological Supervision Service, has started investigating the causes of the accident at the Severnaya mine in Vorkuta (the Komi Republic in the Northwest Federal District), RIA was told in the press service of the republican government.

Deputy head of the Federal Energy Agency Vladimir Shchadov is on the group that is helping to organise a rescue operation. According to the committee on civil defence and emergencies of the Republic of Komi, the rescue team has recovered the body of miner Stanislav Shushkov, assistant head of Section 1. At 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the team rescued three live miners from the collapsed mine.

"There is no news about the four miners remaining in the stope," said a source. The rescue operation goes on.

On Tuesday, ceiling collapsed in the stope down at 565 metres. There were 154 miners there at the time and eight of them were cut off from the rest in the ventilation channel. The other 146 were safely lifted out of the mine.

A group of 75 people is taking part in the rescue operation, including rescue specialists and miners. Experts say the collapse could be considerable and the rescue operation can last "rather long."