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MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti) - An explosion hit a mine in West Siberia, Russia's emergencies ministry said Monday.
"A total of 180 people were staying in the [Ulyanovskaya] mine at the moment [of the explosion]," the ministry said, adding it had received no reports on casualties.
Two rescue teams have been sent to Novokuznetsk, the largest coal mining center in the Kemerovo Region, the ministry said.
Opened in 2002, the Ulyanovksaya mine produces 3 million metric tons of coal annually and its reserves total 210 million tons.
