At least 17 miners were killed on Friday after an explosion ripped through a mine in eastern Ukraine, rescue services said.
Two miners have been hospitalized and nine remain missing after the blast occurred at the Sukhodilska-Vostochnaya mine operated by Metinvest, Ukraine's largest steel producer, in the country's Luhansk Region. Two miners were hospitalized with burns.
Ukraine's emergencies ministry said the blast occurred early on Friday at a depth of 915 meters (0.6 miles).
The blast could have been caused by the ignition of a mixture of methane and air, experts said.
Mining accidents are frequent in Ukraine. In 2007, more than 100 miners died in a blast at a mine near Donetsk, in the east of the former Soviet republic.
