"We are considering two solutions: either flooding the mine’s emergency area or total insulation. All of this is done in order to localize, to extinguish the fire," the unnamed Vorkutaugol official said.
The company’s technical director ruled out the possibility to carry out any work at the mine earlier.
Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov, who headed a response center meeting earlier in the day, said conditions at 2,500 feet below the Earth’s surface did not allow 26 trapped miners to survive.
The first of what Puchkov said were three explosions at Severnaya took place on February 25.
"Five of the victims were taken to the Vorkuta city hospital emergency care. Three of them are hospitalized at the moment, two of them in moderate and one in mild condition," another company official told RIA Novosti later.
The acting head of the Komi Republic announced a three-day mourning period for the victims earlier.
