Siberian Mine Blast Death Toll at 106

Mar 20, 07:10 AM

Current Headlines: Emergency officials in western Siberia said Tuesday 106 miners were confirmed dead in a coal mine explosion a day earlier and 93 had been rescued.

However, there were four people unaccounted for at the Ulyanovskaya mine in Novokuznetsk, a major coal producing center in the Kemerovo Region, where it's believed methane caused a massive explosion Monday about 880 feet below the surface.

The state-run Itar-Tass news agency reported one of those killed was an unidentified visiting British businessman, who was touring the mine at the time of the explosion.

While the Russian Emergencies Ministry dispatched special rescue teams to the mine, about 1,850 miles east of Moscow, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office earlier said a criminal investigation had also been launched into the explosion, the Novosti news agency said.

The large mine is operated by Yuzhkuzbassugol, an affiliate of Russian coal and steel company Evraz Group SA, CNN said. It has been in operation for five years and yields 3 million tons of coal each year.