Spokesman for the Kemerovo region's civil defense and emergencies department Valery Korchagin has told RIA Novosti that rescuers have reached the place where people were said to be at the moment of the accident.
"There is a lot of rubble there," said Mr. Korchagin. In his words, there is no accurate information about the number of miners who were in the mine when the accident occurred. Earlier reports suggested that 52 miners were underground at the moment of the accident. However, subsequent reports said that there might have been more of them.
The accident in the Taizhina mine occurred at 6.55 a.m. local time (2.55 a.m. Moscow time) at the depth of 560 meters. "It must have been caused by a methane emission," said the spokesman.
Rescuers also remark that there is no fire and smoke in the mine, which is why the accident must have been caused rather by a methane emission than a gas blast.
So far, two of the eight killed miners have been identified.
Thirteen miners have been rescued. Two of them are in an Osinniki hospital. Doctors assess their condition as serious but stable. They sustained concussion and burns.
According to hospital spokesmen, after the victims received the first aid, ambulances took them to Leninsk-Kuznetsky's specialized center of miners' rehabilitation for more qualified medical assistance.
Kemerovo region Governor Aman Tuleyev who is heading the emergency HQ has reported on the phone to Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu about the measures taken to rescue the miners.
Moreover, the governor said that the regional administration would provide financial support for the families of the killed and injured miners. The damage payments will be determined later.
According to the press service of the Kemerovo region administration referring to Aman Tuleyev, a state commission has been set up to probe into the accident.
The Osinniki prosecutor's office has launched an inquiry into the accident on the basis of article "violation of safety regulations during mining works, resulting in the death of two and more people through negligence." The prosecutor's office has said that Prosecutor of the Kemerovo region Alexander Khalezin is now at the site of the accident. Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia in the Siberian federal district Valentin Simuchenkov has arrived in Osinniki from Novosibirsk too.
The Taizhina mine was put into operation in 1961. 861 miners work there.
