MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. More than 130 miners have been rescued from the flooded Mir mine located in the town of Mirny, the Republic of Yakutia, a source in the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s press service told TASS.
"As many as 133 people have been lifted to the surface," the source said adding that hoisting machines were used.
There has been no information about 17 workers, according to the source.
"Communication has been established with all the miners except for 17 people," the source said.
The rescue operation continues, involving more than 100 people and over ten pieces of equipment. "The number of rescue workers is being increased. The Emergencies Ministry’s aircraft will deliver 30 mine-rescuers and divers from the city of Novokuznetsk, who have all the necessary equipment," the ministry’s source noted.
An operative group led by Emergencies Ministry Vladimir Puchkov has headed to the town of Mirny.
As many as 151 people were down in the mine when a flooding incident occurred. "Forty of them have been lifted to the surface, power supply has been restored and two hoisting machines have been turned on," the emergencies ministry’s source pointed out.
The flooding incident occurred at about 17:00 local time on Friday, when 151 people were down in the mine.
The Mir mine is operated by the Mirninsky mining and refining facility, the oldest enterprise of Russia’s Alrosa diamond producer. The mine was launched in 2009, its capacity amounts to one million tonnes of ore per year. In 2016, the mine produced 3.19 mln carats of rough diamonds.
This is the second emergency situation occurring in the mine within one week. On July 29, a rock slide buried a loading machine killing a mineworker.