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27 Nov 2021, 21:42

Rescuers cover about 4km of passageways in disaster-stricken mine, with 6.5km still ahead

A total of 51 people died there on Thursday, including five rescuers

GRAMOTEINO /Kemerovo Region/, November 27. /TASS/. Mine rescue teams have inspected over four kilometers of passageways at the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Kemerovo Region, and they need to cover about 6.5 more kilometers, which is impossible at the moment due to the gas situation inside the mine, Nikolai Medvedev, Director General of the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s Federal State Unitary Enterprise ‘Militarized Rescue Unit’, told reporters on Saturday.

"Tomorrow we will be drilling wells and pumping nitrogen into the mine. Due to the gas atmosphere in the mine, it is impossible to carry on with the inspection. Judging by the distance covered, today our teams have gone about 4.6 kilometers of mine passageways. We still have 6.5 kilometers unexplored," Medvedev said.

He explained that the rescue teams had been able to go underground at a distance of about 365 meters. Apart from inspection, they were evacuating the bodies. The rescuers had to carry them for about two kilometers.

A fire at the Listvyazhnaya mine in Kuzbass’ Belovo region was reported on Thursday morning. According to the Emergencies Ministry, 285 miners were trapped underground at the time of the accident. A total of 239 people were evacuated from the mine. A total of 51 miners died, including five rescuers. A criminal case has been opened into the accident. Five suspects were arrested by court on Saturday. Among them are the mine director, his deputy, the disaster area supervisor, along with two safety inspectors.

Set up in October 2003 on the basis of the Inskaya coalmine in the Kemerovo region, Listvyazhnaya is part of SDS-Ugol, one of Russia’s biggest coalmining companies.