Russia mine explosion 'kills 17' (BBC) {coal, of course}

A methane explosion at a coal mine in Siberia has killed at least 17 people, Russian officials have said.

They said dozens of miners, some injured, had been rescued after the blast at the Ulyanovskaya mine in the Kemerovo region.

The officials said 168 miners were underground at the time of the blast. The rescue operation is continuing.

Russia's coal mines are notoriously unsafe. A methane blast at a Kemerovo coal mine killed 21 miners in 2005.
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Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported that at least 55 miners had been rescued so far.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6465777.stm

Wonder how many lives per exajoule that works out to? Can anything compete with coal in that category?

83 rescued.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6465777.stm

About 200 miners were believed to be underground at the time, and more than 40 are still trapped, officials said.

This tragic accident should be the top thread in this forum today.

No power source is as deadly as coal.

A British citizen may be among those killed. He was probably doing consulting work for the coal mine.

MOSCOW, Russia -- Hopes of saving three missing men faded on Wednesday as rescuers struggled to reach them in a Russian coal mine where 107 died in one of the the country's worst mine disasters.

On a day of mourning for the victims of the mine disaster and a nursing home fire that killed 62 people Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin ordered flags to fly at half staff across Russia. Television entertainment programs were also cancelled, Reuters reported. (Full story)

Rescuers at the Ulyanovskaya mine in Siberia's Kemerovo region said they had not given up hope of finding the three miners alive but chances were now slim, 48 hours after a massive gas explosion swept through the pit. Of the 200 people working in the pit at the time, 93 were rescued.

Rescue teams said water, gas and structural damage was hindering the search for the three missing men, while forensic pathologists said it was hard to identify the 107 recovered remains because their bodies were badly burned, Russian news agencies reported.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/21/russia.mine/index.html

non-issue.

Coal kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, mostly with dangerous fossil fuel waste which is also known as "air pollution."

Funerals are held for victims of the worst mining accident in Russia's modern history in which at least 108 people were killed in an underground blast at a Siberian coalmine.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6479207.stm

The human costs of continued reliance on coal should not be nameless, faceless, or forgotten. Posted by a grandson, nephew, and cousin of WV coal miners.