The possible reason for early May's deadly blasts at a West Siberian coalmine will be named next week, but a source close to investigation said the mine's management covered up the fact that a fire occurred there a few days before the accident.
Two explosions rocked the Raspadskaya coalmine in the town of Mezhdurechensk in the Kemerovo Region on the night of May 8-9. A total of 67 people were killed and more than 130 injured. Twenty-three are still missing.
The accident at Raspadskaya is thought to have been caused by poor observation of safety regulations. Earlier a special investigations committee ordered criminal charges against the mine's ex-director, Igor Volkov, for violating safety rules.
The Russian Energy Ministry has estimated the restoration of Raspadskaya at $200-350 million.
The Russian industrial safety watchdog detected over 1,400 safety violations at the mine in 2009 and in January-April 2010 and suspended production five times.
Safety regulations are often poorly enforced in Russia and fatal accidents are common.
MOSCOW, June 6 (RIA Novosti)
