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Two killed during methane explosion in Kemerovo

KEMEROVO, January 22, 22:08 /ITAR-TASS/. Two persons were killed by a methane explosion at a mine in Russia’s Kemerovo Region, southwestern Siberia, 3,482 kilometres (2,164 miles) east of Moscow, on Wednesday, January 22, the press service of the regional administration told ITAR-TASS.

Of 105 miners were down in the mine at the time of the explosion, 103 were led out to the surface.

A source in the regional police said that there was not much gas in the mine and rescuers were on their way to the scene of the explosion.

Three units of rescuers are working at the scene of the incident. A crisis management committee has been set up. It is headed by Kemerogo Region Governor Aman Tuleyev.

The mine was built in 1935 and is to stop coal production in 2018.

This is the second accident at the coalmines in the area this year. On January 5, rescuers led three miners to the surface at the Krasnogorskaya mine where they had been trapped after a cave-in.

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