By RIA Novosti
Kiev : The toll in a mine explosion in eastern Ukraine has now risen to 89, and 11 miners are still missing, the country’s emergencies ministry said Thursday.
“The bodies of 89 miners have been recovered and all of them have been brought to the surface and sent for forensic examination. The fate of 11 other miners is still unclear,” the ministry said in a statement.
An explosion early Sunday in Zasyadko coalmine in the Donetsk region, considered the heart of Ukraine’s coal industry, caused a fire to rage through the mine. A total of 457 miners were underground at that time, but 357 were brought to safety.
Fires, smoke and falling rocks have hampered the search effort, dimming hopes that more miners could still be found alive.
Meanwhile, the mine resumed operations late Wednesday following checks, Ukrainian coal minister Sergei Tulub said.
The Zasyadko coalmine is notorious for fatal accidents. In 1999, a methane gas explosion at the mine had killed 50 miners and 20 were killed in another explosion three years later. Again in September last year, 13 miners were killed and more than a dozen injured in a gas leak at the mine.
Wages of miners at most of Ukraine’s mines are calculated by the volume of coal one can turn out. This often leads miners to ignore safety procedures.