MOSCOW/NOVOSIBIRSK, March 19 (RIA Novosti) - Three people have been injured in a methane explosion at a mine in West Siberia, a Russian Emergency Situations Ministry official said Monday.
According to latest reports, 168 people were staying in the Ulyanovskaya mine in Novokuznetsk, the largest coal producing center in the Kemerovo Region at the moment of the explosion, the official said, adding that the ministry had received no reports on fatal casualties.
Twelve rescue teams are working at the site of the accident, which occurred at 11:16 a.m. Moscow time (8:16 a.m. GMT). More than 20 miners have been evacuated already.
Opened in 2002, the Ulyanovksaya mine produces 3 million metric tons of coal annually and its reserves total 210 million metric tons.
