Methane blast rocks Siberia mine, some rescued

MOSCOW, May 24 (Reuters) At least 70 mine workers were trapped underground at a Siberian coal mine today after a methane gas explosion ripped through the pit, regional administration officials said.

At the time of the blast at the Yubileynaya mine in Siberia's Kemerovo region, 217 people were underground. A regional administration spokesman said 145 had been brought safely to the surface, leaving 72 still underground.

There was no information on casualties.

RIA news agency quoted the emergencies ministry as saying 28 workers were near the epicentre of the explosion.

''According to the (mining) company's information, there were 194 workers and 23 engineering inspectors underground. Rescue services have gone to the scene of the accident. A regional emergency headquarters has been set up. The governor has gone to the scene,'' a spokesman for the regional administration told Reuters.

The mine is in the Kemerovo region in western Siberia, near to the Ulyanovskaya mine where 110 miners were killed in a methane blast in March this year.

Both the Yubileynaya and Ulyanovskaya mines are owned by Yuzhkuzbassugol, a company that is owned 50 per cent by its management, which has operational control, and 50 per cent by Evraz Group (HK1q.L>, Russia's top steelmaker by domestic volume.

REUTERS GP RAI1124