By RIA Novosti
Donetsk (Ukraine) : The toll in methane explosion in a mine in eastern Ukraine has risen to 80.
“Eighty people died, and the fate of another 20 is not known. Sixty-six bodies have been retrieved, and 42 of them identified,” Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev said Monday.
The explosion early Sunday in the Zasyadko coalmine in the Donetsk Region caused a fire that raged through the mine. A total of 457 miners were underground at that time, and 357 have since been brought to safety.
“There is smoke in the blast area. The temperature has dropped to 50 degrees Celsius. We hope the fire will soon be extinguished,” Klyuyev said.
He said a new explosion is unlikely. “Rescue workers have done everything to prevent this.”
Prosecutors said earlier Monday that a criminal investigation into the cause of the blast would look into whether breaches in health and safety procedures had led to the deaths of the miners, but at present there was no “concrete evidence” of safety violations.