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Race against time to save trapped miners

MOSCOW: Rescue workers were racing against time on Tuesday to save 38 miners trapped in a coalmine in Siberia after it suffered a double explosion over the weekend.

At least 52 miners died in two methane blasts that ripped through the coalmine within four hours of each other late on Saturday and early Sunday. More than 350 workers were in the mine 500 metres below ground when disaster struck. Most managed to get out.

Russia's Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu admitted on Tuesday that “there is less and less hope in the search for survivors,” as the blasts had destroyed pumps, causing water to gush in at the rate of 2,000 cubic metres per hour.

He said, so far, workers had recovered only corpses, including the bodies of 19 rescue workers who descended into the mine after the first explosion and were cut off by a second blast.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who visited the mine on Tuesday ordered the Finance Ministry to pay nearly $33,000 in compensation to families of victims.

Those injured are to receive $7,000 to $13,000.

The company will additionally pay comparable amounts to the victims.

The privately owned Raspadskaya mine is Russia's largest coalmine, accounting for 17 per cent of coking coal production last year.

Most of its output is supplied to Russian industry and some is also exported to Ukraine, Romania, Hungry and Bulgaria. The company has been exploring markets in India, Japan and Korea.

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