Coal Mine Disaster
// At least 75 Miners Dead in Methane Explosion in Russia's Kemerovo Region
One of the worst disasters in the history of the Russian coal mining industry took place on Monday, March 19 at a mine near Novokuznetsk, in Russia's Kemerovo region. As of late last night, 75 miners were confirmed dead, and another 33 were still missing. The catastrophe occurred at the Ulyanovskaya mine, which opened only five years ago and was considered one of the safest and most high-tech mines in the region. Incidentally, the mine was opened to celebrate the 50th birthday in 2002 of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The accident took place at 14:19 local time. "A powerful ejection of coal dust has been registered from all 15 outlets [to the surface] of the mine," the dispatcher on duty at the mine radioed to his supervisor. In response to the call, ambulance crews throughout the region were put on alert and 28 rescue units were summoned to the mine, which is located 75 kilometers from Novokuznetsk. Until Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoiga arrived at the scene of the disaster on a special flight from Moscow, the rescue effort was overseen by Aman Tuleev, the governor of the Kemerovo region. By 15:00 six miners had been confirmed dead, and around 180 remained trapped in the mine.
Mine personnel who are responsible for handing out headlamps to the miners at the start of their shift told Kommersant that 186 headlamps had been taken on Monday morning. Three of the miners were not in the mine in the middle of that afternoon, meaning that 183 miners were underground when the accident occurred.
By 17:00 rescuers had confirmed 25 deaths and had brought 55 miners out of the shafts alive. "Not a single one of mine has come out," said the deputy head of the 8th tunnel division, who introduced himself as Alexander Gennadyevich. "Twenty-four people went down to the coal face this morning, and nothing has been heard from them since."
According to the deputy head of the division, the tragedy was precipitated by the collapse of the roof over the coal face in the 11th tunnel: "Over the spot of the collapse there was obviously an underground cavity, a so-called pocket, that accumulated methane. After the roof collapsed, the methane instantaneously spread throughout the mine and exploded."
When asked whether there is any hope that any of the miners who were at the coal face will be found alive, Alexander Gennadyevich replied, "a methane explosion in a mine is like a massive cannon shot. Imagine that there were people in the cannon's barrel at the time. How would you rate their chances for survival?"
The explosion took place at a depth of 270 meters, yet the resulting shockwave was powerful enough to blast coal dust several meters into the air out of all of the mine's entrances.
The same version of events was repeated that evening by Governor Tuleev, who confirmed that a methane explosion in the mine had destroyed the underground infrastructure and that the resulting debris will seriously hinder rescue efforts. "Our task is to find as many people as possible and to prevent a fire," he added. Fortunately, no fires broke out, but in order to prevent the possibility of a spark igniting any remaining gas, the mine's ventilation system had to be turned off. According to the miners at the scene, the situation is a double-edged sword: their fellow miners trapped underground will not burn to death, but they may suffocate.
Anyone at the coal face at the time of the blast was likely killed instantly, however, and even the few who were near the exits from the mine when the explosion took place suffered severe trauma.
"Six wounded miners were brought to us," said a receptionist at a city hospital in Novokuznetsk. "Four of them, whom the rescuers found above ground, near the exits from the mine, suffered light bruising and contusions. We allowed them to return home. The other two were caught by the shockwave right near the exits, and they suffered serious trauma from the explosion. They have broken vertebrae, broken ribs, and traumatic brain and skull injuries. They also received numerous wounds from fragments of rock and materials used in constructing the shaft supports. These people were located 300 meters from the epicenter of the blast. Whatever happened to those who were right next to it is too awful to imagine."
At one o'clock in the morning, the headquarters of the rescue effort reported that the bodies of 75 miners killed in the blast had been found and that another 75 had been pulled alive from the wreckage of the mine. The fate of the remaining 33 miners is unknown. One of those missing is an employee of the British company Davis Derby who was supposed to launch a 100 million-ruble system to control the temperature, smoke, and concentration of methane in the mine. The launch operation meant that several top management personnel, including the head engineer, the deputy production director, the chief mechanic, and one of the division heads, were also in the mine. None of them have been accounted for.
According to the company Yuzhkuzbassgol, which owns the Ulyanovskaya mine, until the moment of the blast the concentration of methane was within normal limits and no technical problems had been reported. The Ulyanovskaya mine is considered one of the safest and most technologically-advanced mines in the region, and it has been in operation for only five years.
Nevertheless, the Novokuznetsk regional prosecutor has already filed charges against the mine's owners, accusing them of deadly safety violations. Meanwhile, Yuzhkuzbassgol is preparing for funerals for the miners killed in the blast, although the rescue operation is still continuing. The company is obliged to pay for the funerals, and according to an agreement between the local authorities and the owners of the mine, the company must also pay 1 million rubles to the families of each miner killed. In addition, the company had previously agreed to pay a monthly stipend to the children of miners killed on the job until the children turn 18 or, if they go on to university, until they reach 23 years of age, and the company also pays for education and healthcare for the members of the dead miners' families.
Sergei Dyupin; Konstantin Voronov (Novokuznetsk)
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 20, 2007
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