Gas explosion in Ukrainian coal mine kills one, injures six miners

A gas explosion at Ukrainian mine killed one miner and injured six others, emergency officials said Thursday.

The explosion occurred Wednesday evening at a depth of 130 meters (426 feet) in the Zhdanovvuhillya mine in the eastern Donetsk region, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

One miner was killed and six were hospitalized with injuries of varying levels of severity, the ministry said in a statement. A special commission was created to investigate the cause of the explosion.

Ukraine has some of the world's most dangerous mines, due to outdated equipment and poor safety standards. Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, nearly 4,300 miners have been killed in mining accidents reports the AP.