MOSCOW (AP) — A total of 36 people were killed at a coal mine in Russia’s far north where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions that resulted in a raging fire and the collapse of the mine, officials said Sunday.
The dead include five rescue workers and a miner who were killed early Sunday when the third explosion rocked themine in Vorkuta, a town north of the Arctic Circle in the Komi region, the emergency services said.
The first two explosions struck late Thursday, killing four miners and trapping 26 others. Denis Paikin, technical director of mine operator Vorkutaugol, said Sunday that given the level of gas in the mine, the degree of destruction and the trajectory of the fire, which continued to rage, all of the missing miners were presumed dead.
At the time of the blast, 110 miners were underground and 80 were rescued.
Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who visited the mine on Sunday, said federal investigators had drawn preliminary conclusions about the cause of the accident but were not yet ready to release their findings, Russian news agencies reported.
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You’re doing a heck of a job, Putie…
Another chip on the pile against the use of fossil fuels.
My grandfather was a coal miner in Kentucky. My parents’ home was heated with coal back in the ‘70s. I remember shoveling that dirty crap into the furnace, totally oblivious to its destructive effect on the environment. Years later I attended a coal miners’ constitutional convention, and it really opened my eyes to what these men went through to get that coal out. I have nothing but great respect for anyone willing to endure these conditions to support their families, and it pains me that all these decades later the conditions they work in are still incredibly dangerous. It’s not worth it, and it’s another good reason to advocate for alternative energy.