Watchdog tried twice to close Russian blast mine

MOSCOW, May 24 (Reuters) Russian safety inspectors tried twice to close down the Siberian mine where at least 35 people died in an explosion today but were overruled by local courts, the industrial safety watchdog said.

Inspectors discovered safety violations in the shaft at the Yubileynaya mine, the watchdog said in a statement.

RosTekhNadzor said its inspectors had twice applied to local courts seeking the closure of the Yubileynaya mine, most recently on April 30. On both occasions, the courts ruled the mine could continue operating, it said.

The watchdog was able to close down sections of the mine on safety grounds for a limited time. ''These included shaft 15-16, where on May 24 there was an explosion of methane and air,'' said the statement.

The Yubileynaya mine is owned by Yuzhkuzbassugol, a company that is owned 50 percent by its management, which has operational control, and 50 percent by Evraz Group , Russia's top steelmaker by domestic volume.

Yuzhkuzbassugol has not made any comment on the accident.

Another of its mines in the same region, Ulyanovskaya, was the scene of an explosion in March that killed 110 people.

It was not immediately clear if the dead miners had been working in shaft 15-16 when the blast occurred or if the shaft was closed.

REUTERS RC VC1655