Final Toll In Ukraine Mine Accident At 100 Dead

KIEV, Ukraine -- One hundred people died in the worst mining accident in Ukraine's post-Soviet history last week, Interfax news agency said on Saturday giving what it said was the final toll of the disaster.

People and relatives of the miners mourn at a funeral for miners killed in Post-Soviet Ukraine's worst mining disaster.
The accident on Nov 18 took place some 1,000 metres underground at the Zasyadko pit, one of Ukraine's three biggest mines.

Ukraine's coal mines are considered among the most perilous in the world, with many poorly financed and employing outdated Soviet-era equipment.

Most of the country's mine disasters are caused by build-ups of methane gas, which can occur suddenly.

Previously, the worst mining disaster in post-Soviet Ukraine had been at the Barakov mine in 2000, when 80 people were killed in a similar gas explosion.

The Zasyadko mine employs some 10,000 people and produces up to 10,000 tonnes of coal every day.

In 1999 an explosion there claimed 50 lives, while in 2001 another blast left 55 people dead.

A gas leak in September 2006 killed 13 miners.

Source: The Straits Times