12 rescuers killed in Russian blast

MOSCOW, MARCH 22: Twelve rescue workers were killed in a methane gas explosion at a coal mine in central Siberia while they were fighting a fire in the shaft, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday.

According to the ITAR-Tass News Agency, the emergency workers had safely evacuated 460 miners from the Komsomolets mine Monday evening after a fire broke out in the shaft.

But 10 hours later they still hadn’t gotten the fire under control, and were buried in a methane explosion, according to the report.

The bodies of the 12 rescue workers were recovered by this morning, the news agency said. It said officials at the mine, located in Russia’s coal-rich Kemerovo region, were looking into the accident.