A powerful explosion tore through a mine in eastern Ukraine early Sunday, trapping at least 37 miners who had been making repairs to improve safety conditions in the mine, officials said. Four workers above ground were injured.
The explosion occurred around 5 a.m. some 3,300 feet underground at the Karl Marx mine in Donetsk, said Maryna Nikitina, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's industrial safety watchdog agency.
At least 37 miners were trapped underground, Nikitina said. Four workers who were above ground at the time — three of them women — were hospitalized with severe burns, she said.
The explosion damaged two shafts and destroyed several buildings above ground, TV reports said. Rescue workers have begun trying to get to the trapped miners, Coal Industry Minister Viktor Poltavets said in televised remarks.
Most powerful in history
The explosion of methane gas and coal was the most powerful in Ukraine's coal mining history, deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov told Interfax news agency.
The state-run mine had been declared too dangerous to operate, and the trapped miners were underground to improve safety conditions, local emergency officials said.
"The mine will likely be closed down," Turchynov said.
Ukraine has some of the world's most dangerous mines due to outdated equipment and poor safety standards. Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, more than 4,800 miners in Ukraine have been killed. Officials say that for every 1 million tons of coal brought to the surface in Ukraine, three miners lose their lives.
Coal-rich Donetsk is about 400 miles southeast of the capital, Kiev.