Twenty-one miners were in the Zasyadko mine at the moment of explosion

According to new data of the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry, there were 21 miners in the Zasyadko mine located near the Donetsk city at the moment of the explosion. The accident took place in the late hours of Wednesday.

As a result of the explosion of methane mixed with coal dust, 19 miners who at that moment were at the 1,058-metre depth were killed.

A rescue team has found one live miner. He was subsequently rushed to the ambulance department of a Donetsk hospital. The fate of another miner remains as yet unclear.

A governmental commission headed by Ukrainian First Vice-Prime Minister Oleg Dubina is currently working at the scene.

The Ukrainian cabinet has taken a decision to allocate three mln. hryvnias /approximately 570,000 dollars/ from a governmental reserve fund to liquidate the explosion aftermath and render assistance to the victims' families.

This has been the third large-scale accident in the Zasyadko mine over the past three years. The first one took place in 1999 and claimed 50 human lives. The second one occurred in 2001 leaving 55 miners killed. The recent accident's death toll is 19 people.

More than 150 miners have been killed in Ukrainian mines since the beginning of 2002.