SOFIA, Bulgaria, March 8 (UPI) -- Authorities closed a coal mine in southwestern Bulgaria Thursday, fearing a gas explosion earlier in the week could be followed by more blasts.
A 31-year-old man died Wednesday night of injuries suffered in the explosion Monday. He is to be buried in Simitli, not far from the Oranovo coal mine, the Bulgarian news agency SNA reported.
The methane gas explosion Monday also injured 18 other miners, seven of them seriously. Three men were listed in critical condition Thursday, Bulgaria's Focus news agency said.
About 70 percent of miners refused to go underground to work in the lignite mine Wednesday as concentrations of methane gas remained high. The state-run Labor Inspectorate in Blagoevgrad ordered the suspension of work until methane gas in the pits is reduced to normal levels.
