A methane explosion in a Ukrainian coal mine Sunday killed at least 33 miners and rescuers sought as many as 80 still missing, officials said.

At least 27 miners were hospitalized with injuries suffered in the blast at the Zasyadko mine in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, RIA Novosti reported.

More than 450 workers were in the mine when the blast occurred about 3,280 below ground, the BBC reported.

The miners' friends and relatives gathered at the site for news as fire burned deep in the mine shafts, the BBC reported.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was heading for the scene, called it one of the country's worst mining disasters in several years. Ukraine's coal mines are considered among the world's most dangerous, the BBC said.

One miner was killed at Saturday a cave-in at the Lenin mine in the Donetsk region. more than 140 miners have died in the Zasyadko mine since 1999, EuroNews.net reported.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 18 November 2007   

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