Total of 36 Feared Dead After Russian Mine Explosions

Victims included five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed early this morning when the third explosion rocked the mine.

On Thursday, four miners were killed and 26 went missing after a collapse at the Severnaya mine in the city of Vorkuta within the Arctic Circle.

“Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov issued an order to single out all the mine rescuers who have died or received injuries for state awards”, the ministry’s representative said.

The death toll in the Severnaya mine incident reached 36 on Sunday, as the rescue services halted their search for survivors.

All rescue workers were evacuated from the mine after the last methane explosion, with authorities believing that more blasts are possible.

The Thursday blast marks the worst Russian mining accident in several years, raising new questions about safety rules in the country’s coal industry.

Almost 500 people were involved in the rescue operation. Five of them were rescuers from the Russian ministry for emergency situations.

Seventy-seven people were in the mine during the rescue operation when the latest explosion hit, the emergencies ministry said.

Earlier this week President Vladimir Putin tasked the government with setting up a special panel to look into the accident.

The Severstal accident killing up to 36 people would be the deadliest since 2010, when 91 miners died after methane blasts tore apart Raspadskaya’s flagship mine, owned by Evraz Plc, which is backed by billionaire Roman Abramovich. In 2007, 110 people were also killed at the Ulyanovskaya mine in the same region.