MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. An avalanche has killed a mining company worker in the Poltavskaya River area in Russia’s Far Eastern Sakhalin region, a spokesperson for the East Mining Company told TASS on Saturday.

"One person has been taken to the hospital, his condition remains unknown. Another person recovered from under the snow is dead," the spokesperson said.

Four workers were dismantling a pipe at the Solntsevsky coal mine when the avalanche came down. Two workers got buried under the snow, one of them died.

A criminal case has been opened into safety violations following the incident, the regional branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said.