MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - An accident in the Tayzhina mine in the Kemerovo Region (Western Siberia's South) was caused by rock caving, Sergei Oganesyan, head of the Russian Federal Energy Agency and chairman of the governmental commission set up to investigate into the accident reported.
The accident, which took place on April 10, 2004 claimed lives of 47 miners.
"It was a rock caving, that means the accident was caused by a natural factor," he said at a Moscow press conference. "The dead rock fell on a cable and damaged it. The methane in the mine flamed up." Mr Oganesyan stressed that the accident was not due to human-factor. "The miners are not to blame," he said.
These data are the first official conclusions made by the governmental investigating commission.
"I visited the site of the tragedy and I can tell you the mine was reequipped with up-to-date machinery. It was maintained by 50 people," Mr Oganesyan pointed out. He also added old mines are maintained by about 250 people.
