MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - A methane explosion in a coal mine in western Siberia Thursday morning killed 35 miners, three miners are missing, a Russian emergencies ministry spokesperson said.
The methane explosion at the Yubileinaya coal mine in the Kemerovo region, Russia's largest coal producing area, occurred at 7.40 a.m. Moscow time (11.40 a.m. local time, 3.40 a.m. GMT), when 217 miners were working underground. Different sources say 178 or 180 miners have been brought to the surface, with five to seven people injured.
Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said rescue teams had flown to Kemerovo from neighboring regions to help 150 rescuers currently working at the scene and promised aid from Moscow. "The federal center will do everything that is required."
Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev, who is leading a commission investigating the cause of the accident, declared May 26 a day of mourning.
Local prosecutors said they had opened an inquiry into a breach of safety rules at the mine. And a technological watchdog said the Kemerovo administration could withdraw a license from Yuzhkuzbasugol, Russia's largest underground coal mining company and owner of Yubileinaya.
The local branch of the Federal Environmental, Engineering, and Nuclear Supervision Agency said the license could be withdrawn after violations at coal mines run by Yuzhkuzbasugol, which is 50% owned by Evraz Group steel giant, were discovered during checks following the death of 110 miners at the Ulyanovskaya mine blast March 19.
The company, which runs 12 coal mines, denied comment on the possible withdrawal saying it had not "received a formal document to this effect."
A Yuzhkuzbasugol spokesman also said the company had moved to improve safety systems at its mines, launched checks of equipment and had been retraining safety engineers following the March 19 accident, the worst in Russia's coal mining industry in the last 75 years.
Yubileinaya was put into operation 41 years ago. In 2006, about 900,000 metric tons of coal was produced there.
