Explosion tears through Russian coal mine, two miners unaccounted-for

An explosion occurred in a Siberian coal mine Wednesday, leave two miners unaccounted-for, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Three miners who were in the immediate vicinity of the blast, in a storeroom of the Severnaya mine in the republic of Khakasiya, managed to escape but two of their colleagues remained missing, said ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov. Thirty-nine other miners were evacuated safely from the shaft, he said.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the workers were unloading explosives used in mining when the blast occurred spontaneously in a percussion cap, Beltsov said, reports the AP.