An explosion ripped through a mine in the coal-rich Kuzbass region of Siberia on Wednesday, killing nine workers and leaving 17 missing, the regional press service said.
The blast took place at the Yesaulskaya mine in the Kemerovo region, about 1,850 miles east of Moscow, said Olga Raskova of the Kemerovo regional press service. Four miners were hospitalized with injuries but their lives were out of danger, she said.
Thirty miners were in the shaft when the explosion occurred, the press service said. Rescuers were searching for the 17 missing miners, Raskova said.
The blast was caused by a methane build-up, according to a preliminary investigation; the press service said that smoke had been registered in the shaft on Tuesday night and that coal extraction had been stopped. The workers in the shaft at the time of the blast were trying to erect bulkheads to cut off the source of the smoke, the press service said.
