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46 Trapped Miners Being Rescued in Russia

Posted on: Saturday, 25 October 2003, 06:00 CDT

Rescue workers on Saturday began lifting to the surface 46 miners trapped in a flooded mine for nearly two days in southern Russia.

The miners were taken from the shaft in groups of three or four in a special elevator cage. By midday, seven miners were brought to the surface. All were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, and one was reported in serious condition.

The miners were working some 2,625 feet underground on Thursday when water from a subterranean lake leaked into a shaft above them, blocking their way to the surface, according to Col. Viktor Shkareda, head of the regional emergency department.

A two-person rescue team that descended into the mine reached the pitface where the miners were trapped and were able to see and speak to them.

As the miners and rescuers emerged, some miners refused to be put on stretchers. One broke free and went to a rescue worker to shake hands. "Thanks folks for saving us. We are fine now," he said.

The rescued miners were covered with coal dust and clothing soaked by two days of being trapped underground in knee-or waist-high water.

About 200 relatives waited outside the mine, standing behind police cordons preventing them from speaking to the rescued miners. Authorities said relatives could meet them later in the hospital after medical checkups.

Seventy-one miners were working in the Zapadnaya mine in the Rostov-on-Don region, about 600 miles south of Moscow, when the accident happened, Shkareda said.

He said 25 miners managed to escape to other pits and reach the surface after the leak filled several shafts.

Electricity in the mine was shut off, and the miners had low batteries and no food, Shkareda said.

Trucks were dumping earth and rocks into the mine to try to plug the leak while two teams of rescuers were trying to carve tunnels from adjacent mines.

Regional governor Vladimir Chub said that the teams were unable to use heavy equipment, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The trapped miners had little air, but the rescue teams were able to make special ventilation shafts.

ITAR-Tass said it was the second such accident at the Zapadnaya mine this year. Water flooded the mine in February, but nobody was inside at the time, according to the news agency.

Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry, and miners stage frequent protests over wage delays and declining safety standards. According to the Independent Coal Miners' Union, 68 miners were killed on the job last year and 98 in 2001.

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