36 killed in Russian coal mine explosions

VORKUTA, Russia, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- Methane explosions in a remote Arctic Russian coal mine killed at least 36 people, including six rescue workers, the Russian government reported.

Two underground explosions Thursday in the Severnaya mine in Russia's Komi district, west of the Ural Mountains, killed four miners with 26 more presumed dead in "high temperatures and no oxygen," Vladimir Puchkov, emergency situations minister, said.

Another methane explosion Sunday killed five rescuers and one miner as they brought insulated blocks into the mine to subdue a still burning fire 2,650 feet underground, the Emergencies Ministry said. It added 80 people were rescued from the mine.

"We don't have any hope that the 26 people left in the mine are still alive," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said in a televised statement.

The daughter of one victim said mine managers were aware of the methane buildup and ordered miners to disable gas detectors so that no emergency signal could be given and work could proceed.

"They covered them with shirts, (and) buried the detectors," Darya Tryasukho told the independent Dojd television channel, because the detectors "showed there would be trouble," the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Rostekhnadzor, the government agency that handles mine safety, said Thursday's explosions were the result of "natural causes."