Fire in Donetsk coal mine takes 35 lives

Saturday night, at 1:50 (local time), at a depth of 570 meters, a fire took place in Ukraine coal mine of the Selidovugol state holding company in Donetsk Region, Ukraine. When the fire started, 114 miners were in the mine. The temperature at the depth of 570 meters was + 500-600 degrees centigrade.

Sunday morning, more than 80 miners were evacuated from the mine, while 33 or 35 people remained underground. According to Ukrainian information agencies, rescue works are being carried by 26 units of rescuers and eight search groups. Eighteen medical teams arrived to the spot to render medical assistance to the relatives of the miners. According to Obozrevatel, within 12 hours, the leadership of the mine gave no information about details of the catastrophe. Later, the bodies of 34 miners were lifted. The rescue service is searching for one more miner. Therefore, the fire took 35 lives. By Sunday evening, the fire was still not extinguished.

To investigate the reasons of the accident, a state commission was created, headed by the first vice prime-minister, Oleg Dubina. It should be remembered that, this year, 116 miners were injured in Ukrainian mines. There were 10 large-scale accidents, as a result of which 33 workers were injured, while 16 died.

Andrei Lubensky PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/08/43821.html

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