One Dead, Three Injured in Ukraine Coalmine Blast

KIEV, July 14 (RIA Novosti) – One miner died and three others were injured in a sudden blast of gas and coal at a coalmine in the Donetsk Region in east Ukraine, the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry’s press office reported on Sunday.

The blast occurred at the Shcheglovskaya-Glubokaya mine in the town of Makeyevka early on Sunday, trapping three miners underground. A total of 130 miners managed to leave the accident-hit area on their own. One of them was hospitalized with the signs of methane gas poisoning.

The three trapped miners were later found by the rescuers.

“One miner died and his body was lifted to the surface while two miners were taken in grave condition to the Donetsk burn center,” the press office said.

Work at the mine has been suspended. The cause of the explosion is being investigated.

Mining accidents are frequent in Ukraine. In 2007, a methane explosion at the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk killed 101 workers, the worst mine tragedy in Ukraine’s history.