Five miners rescued after rock collapse in Siberian coal mine

Five miners were rescued Thursday after being trapped underground by a rock collapse in a coal mine in the Kemerovo region of Siberia, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Rescuers dug a tunnel into the Taldinskaya-Yuzhnaya and brought the miners to the surface hours after the rock collapse, said Sergei Vlasov, a ministry spokesman in Moscow. All the miners were unhurt.

The accident occurred in the coal-rich Kemerovo region, about 3,000 kilometers (1,850 miles) east of Moscow.

Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry, which since the breakup of the Soviet Union has lacked public or private funds to invest in safety equipment and technical upgrades.

AP