A rescue operation at a west Siberian coal mine where 24 miners are still missing after two explosions over the weekend has been seriously hampered by numerous fires.
The search for the missing miners was suspended on Wednesday over the threat of new explosions while rescuers still have to check at least 20 kilometers of underground caves and passages.
"We covered another kilometer [on Thursday] and found new fires, which we have to extinguish [before moving forward]," said Pavel Plat, the chief military expert of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
The official said there were at least 12 fires that blocked the advance toward the areas where the missing miners worked on the day of the tragedy.
An emergencies ministry plane is scheduled to deliver three metric tons of the fire-suppression agent Khladon, which is used to extinguish fires in confined areas, to the mine late on Thursday.
The current death toll at the Raspadskaya coalmine, near the town of Mezhdurechensk in Kemerovo Province, stands at 66 people with over 100 miners injured.
MEZHDURECHENSK, May 13 (RIA Novosti)
