FOUR KUZBASS MINERS IN GRAVE CONDITION

NOVOSIBIRSK, January 12. (RIA Novosti correspondent) - Four of the 16 miners injured in a methane explosion at the Sibirskaya coal mine in Kuzbass (Siberia) are in critical condition, Ilgiz Galeev, the head of the Kemerovo regional emergency center, told RIA Novosti. He noted that victims are receiving all necessary treatment.

"The state of two miners' health raises the most concern," Mr. Galeev said, "almost 45% of their skin has been burnt, they have received upper inhalation burns and are currently being treated at a burn center in Kemerovo."

Two more workers have been hospitalized in a medical center for miners in the city of Leninsk-Kuznetski and are in severe condition. One of them was diagnosed with a spine fracture.

The other 12 victims are being treated in a municipal hospital in the city of Anzhero-Sudzhensk, near the Sibirskaya coal mine.

At the time of the blast 84 miners were underground, 57 of them were caught up in the explosion. Five miners were killed and 16 more were hospitalized.

"The fire in the mine has not been extinguished yet," Leonid Astafiev, the director of the Sibirskaya coal mine, told RIA Novosti. Today, three days after the explosion, rescuers were able to localize the fire at the depth of 350 meters, Mr. Astafiev added.

However, the fire "has begun to subside," Mr. Astafiev said.