Calls for accountability as 38 die in Siberian mine blast (Roundup)

May 24, 2007, 12:59 GMT

Moscow - Calls for accountability came from Russia's top politicians after 38 people died in a mine blast in the Siberian region of Kemerovo on Thursday, months after an explosion killed 110 at a nearby mine.

'Conduct an analysis and give exhaustive recommendations. I want them to be objective, concrete and harsh,' Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov was quoted by media as telling the head of Russia's federal agency for technical, environmental and atomic safety.

With President Vladimir Putin on a state visit to Austria and Luxembourg, it fell to Fradkov and parliamentary leaders to demand answers to the string of mining disasters. The March explosion at another Kemerovo mine is considered to be Russia's deadliest ever.

'We need to advance revisions of the system that will provide safety for (workers) in mines,' Boris Gryzlov, head of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, was quoted by Interfax as saying.

He added that jail time should await those found to be responsible. Regional prosecutors have already opened a criminal case.

Russian Emergency Situations Ministry officials said 217 people had been in the Yubileinaya mine, some 3,000 kilometres east of Moscow, when the methane gas-fuelled explosion occurred 520 metres underground.

Of that number, 179 were brought to the surface and seven are in hospital, including three in serious condition.

A day of mourning was declared for Saturday by Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev, who said Putin sent his 'most sincere condolences' to the families of the deceased.

A spokesman for the technical safety agency told media the mine had been closed after a number of violations were uncovered following the March methane blast at the Ulyanovsk mine, which like Yubileinaya is owned by the Yuzhkuzbassugol mining company.

All the violations were addressed, and a court allowed the Yubileinaya mine to resume work, the spokesman said.

Agency representatives said Yuzhkuzbassugol, which is owned by oligarch Roman Abramovich's Evraz Group, could lose its licence. Evraz shares were down 2.69 per cent, to 33.33 dollars per share from 34.25 dollars, in Thursday trading on the London Stock Exchange.

What exactly caused the increased concentration of methane gas leading to the blast on Thursday remained unclear.

An unidentified mine worker was quoted as telling Russian agencies the level of the gas was at 10 per cent over the past month, as opposed to acceptable levels of 0.5 to 2 per cent.

Kemerovo Governor Tuleyev, however, said at a press conference that methane levels were 'normal' at the moment of the explosion.

He added the mine could reopen in a month but raised the possibility of changing the mine's ownership and management.

Yuzhkuzbassugol representatives told Interfax they were 'ready to comment' but that as the company's management was not on the site, they 'do not have the information.'

Seventy-five teams of rescue workers were on the scene, with additional crews leaving nearby regions to aid in search and recovery efforts.

'Unfortunately, (rescue) work is complicated by debris and a strong gas presence. But it will continue,' Irina Andrianova, an Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman, told state-controlled Channel One.

Both the Ulyanovsk and Yubileiynaya mines are located in the coal- heavy area of central Siberia known as the Kuzbass, a Soviet-era industrial centre where that fuel has been mined for more than 150 years.

Many of the region's mines date back to Soviet times and have recorded a number of accidents in recent years. In 2005, 25 people died in a single mine explosion, and 47 perished in a blast in 2004.

In 1997, the final toll of an explosion was put at 67, but March's explosion is thought to be the most deadly.

That explosion led to the immediate closing of eight Russian mines where safety violations had been revealed. An additional 10 received mandates to address violations.