At least 52 people died in the two blasts that hit a west Siberian coalmine over the weekend, a regional emergencies ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
"At this time a total of 52 bodies have been retrieved from the mine," he said. "Thirty-eight people are missing."
A spokeswoman for the regional investigation department, Nadezhda Ananyeva, said relatives have identified 44 bodies.
More than 70 people were injured in the explosions at the Raspadskaya coalmine, near the town of Mezhdurechensk in the Kemerovo Region.
FIRST BLAST
An emergencies ministry officer said the first explosion occurred at 8:55 p.m. Moscow time (16:55 GMT) on Saturday. There were about 370 people in the mine at the moment of the blast, and some 280 were rescued shortly after the accident.
A total of 12 rescue teams were involved in search and rescue efforts.
Ananyeva said the cause of the first blast was being established.
"We are now trying to establish if the explosion was caused by methane gas or by coal dust," she said.
The Russian energy ministry set up a special group to deal with the rescue effort and the aftermath of the explosion.
SECOND BLAST
The second blast took place some four hours later, at about 1:00 a.m. Moscow time on Sunday [21:00 GMT Saturday].
A group of 19 rescue workers who went into the mine after the initial blast are now known to have all died in the second explosion.
An eyewitness told RIA Novosti that the blast broke windows in several buildings and caused several structures to partially collapse.
The most serious damage was caused to a four-story building where the main entrance to the mine was located. It was almost completely leveled, he said.
A miner who has worked in Raspadskaya for over 15 years told RIA Novosti that the second explosion was so powerful that it knocked people on the surface off their feet.
SAFETY VIOLATIONS SUSPECTED
Investigators are currently working at the site of the accident. A criminal case was launched into the accident amid suspicions that it was caused by breaches in safety rules.
"Officers have already started interviewing eyewitnesses, the operator on duty and those who were at the facility during the accident," a spokeswoman for the regional investigation department said.
She said a number of bodies brought to the surface were currently being examined in order to determine the exact cause of death.
Investigators say a malfunction of equipment and/or negligence was the cause of the tragedy, a source close to the investigation said.
The source also said investigators were due to carry out more work to determine the cause of the explosions.
A Raspadskaya official said on Monday that methane levels in the mine were "normal."
The head of the Russian Investigative committee was heading for Mezhdurechensk to meet with relatives of the deceased miners, according to a Kremlin spokesman.
"Putin quickly contacted the head of the Russian Investigative committee, Alexander Bastrykin and asked him to come here urgently," Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Bastrykin was to set off at 11:00 a.m. Moscow time [07.00 GMT] to meet with relatives of the deceased miners, answer their questions and give orders concerning the investigation.
ENTIRE TOWN AFFECTED
Residents of the West Siberian town of Mezhdurechensk have said the explosions in the nearby Raspadskaya coalmine have affected everyone in the town.
"In our town, everyone is connected in some way to the coalmining business. Either they work in the mines themselves or someone close to them does. The Raspadskaya tragedy has affected everyone," a resident said on Sunday.
The population of the town and adjacent villages is around 80,000. The vast majority of residents work for one of three coalmining companies: Mezhdurechye, Southern Kuzbass and Raspadskaya.
PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION
President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday created a special commission to look into the disaster.
"On my instructions, the government has created a special commission, which will be headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Zubkov," Medvedev said during a video conference in the president's Situation Room with key ministers and rescue workers, adding: "I instruct you [Zubkov] to fly to the Kemerovo Region to control the process on the spot."
"The situation is extremely difficult, but nonetheless all rescue operations will continue until we reach the truth and define what exactly happened," Medvedev said.
Medvedev also instructed Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to open an investigation into the cause of the blasts.
"Investigations need to be held within the framework of the criminal case, to understand how well the law on worker safety was followed," the president said.
Kemerovo Region governor Aman Tuleyev, who has taken charge of the rescue operation, said on Monday work was underway to provide housing and social benefits for the families of the deceased.
INSURANCE CONTRADICTION
The Raspadskaya coalmine belongs to the Raspadskaya Coal Company. The company's 2009 report suggested that the mine had no insurance coverage for production equipment or civil liability.
The company's financial statements for 2009, prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards, stated that "the company does not insure basic production equipment or civil liability."
"The group complies with the requirements of the Russian legislation on obligatory insurance, and also has insurance contracts for particular assets that are used as collateral under loan agreements," the report said.
At the same time, the company says on its website that it insures the liability of its enterprises for causing damage to the life, health or property of other persons and the environment in case of an accident and also covers obligatory medical insurance for the personnel employed by its enterprises.
Raspadskaya coalminers were insured against accidents at the insurance company Sibirsky Spas, Boris Chikurov, the company's deputy general director, told RIA Novosti.
The Raspadskaya mine is Russia's largest coalmine, producing 10% of coking coal in the country. It is characterized by high concentrations of methane, a gas that is released from coal or surrounding rock strata in the process of coalmining.
About $1 billion was invested in the coalmine in the past five years to make it the world's most technically outfitted mine, including in terms of methane safety, regional governor Tuleyev said, according to Russian business newspaper Vedomosti.
There has been no indication of how long production at the mine could be interrupted, with operations at the site still focused on the people missing underground. Analysts said a break of about a month would not have much affect on the market, but beyond three or six months there could be serious problems.
POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES
The Raspadskaya Coal Company is owned on a parity basis by Evraz steel and mining group and the company's management.
It is hard to say yet how the blast will affect the situation on the domestic coal market. If repairs take a month, this will hardly affect the market as contracts with steel companies are signed for three months and both Raspadskaya and its clients still have available coal stocks.
However, if repairs take from three to six and more months, this will create serious problems for the market, Vedomosti said, citing experts.
Raspadskaya supplies coal to Russian steel giants Evraz Group, Novolipetsk Steel and the Magnitogorsk Metals Works (MMK). Coal supplies from Raspadskaya accounted for slightly over 10% of the coal requirements of MMK, the company's spokesman said. In case of need, MKK will easily find alternative sources of coal, the paper said, adding that it had failed to receive any comment from Evraz or Novolipetsk Steel.
Raspadskaya shares plummeted more than 20% by 5:04 p.m. Moscow time [13:04 GMT] on the Russian stock market on Tuesday, the first day of trading after the Victory Day celebrations in Russia.
PUTIN WANTS 'THOROUGH' INVESTIGATION
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin demanded on Tuesday a comprehensive investigation into the causes of the tragedy.
Putin, clad all in black, told a meeting in Mezhdurechensk that he wanted inspections of safety and rescue equipment, as well as an investigation into the actions of the Raspadskaya Coal company that runs the mine.
He also said that "people were taken out of the mine" after the first explosion, but were not "brought to a safe place" and died in the following blast.
"We need to know the reasons that led to such a large death toll," he said.
He also said that he wanted the questions asked him by bereaved relatives at a meeting earlier on Tuesday answered.
"Answers should be given to these questions," the premier said. "Not only the relatives of the deceased miners and rescuers need this, we all need this."
"I call for a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy," he said.
Putin also said the lessons drawn from the investigation into the tragedy should be applied towards the coal industry as a whole.
MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti)
