Fifty-two people have been confirmed killed in the two blasts that hit a west Siberian coal mine at the weekend, a regional emergencies ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.
"At this time a total of 52 bodies have been retrieved from the mine, 40 of them identified," he said. "Thirty-eight people are missing."
More than 70 people were injured in the explosions at the Raspadskaya coalmine, near the town of Mezhdurechensk in Kemerovo Province.
MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti)