The miners were hospitalized with burns and other injuries after the explosion at the Lenin mine in Mezhdurechensk, in the south of the Kemerovo Region, at 11:10 local time (03:30 GMT). Two miners are in a serious condition, an emergencies official in region said.
"Preliminary reports indicated that a methane explosion had occurred at the mine," the emergencies official said, adding that all the 347 miners in the mine at the moment of the blast had been evacuated.
The accident occurred as Mechel's share price plummeted dramatically in New York and Moscow after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday that the company was selling raw materials at twice the price domestically as it was abroad. This was coupled with fresh accusations of tax evasion against the company by Putin on Monday.
Industrial safety regulator Rostekhnadzor ordered the temporary closure of several coalmines in the region after checks prompted by a series of accidents earlier this year.
The watchdog said five coalmine accidents had taken place in the Kemerovo Region since the start of 2008, including a cave-in at the Lenin mine on May 30, which killed five people.
