At least eight miners suffocated to death and around 20 others were injured
after being exposed to methane during an accident at a coal mine in
Serbia on
Friday, officials said.
اضافة اعلان
Mining minister Zorana Mihajlovic said the early morning accident near the
southern town of Aleksinac was linked to an unexplained exposure to methane,
despite initial reports saying that an explosion caused a mine shaft to
collapse.
"There was no explosion. The increased concentration of methane was the
cause... the miners suffocated," Mihajlovic told reporters while visiting
the site.
Goran Vidic, who oversees the hospital in Aleksinac, told Serbia's public
broadcaster RTS that 19 miners had been admitted to hospital -- three of them
in a serious condition.
Two miners were also being treated in the nearby city of Nis, RTS
reported.
At least 49 miners were believed to have been working in the mine at the
time the accident, but all have been accounted for.
Investigators were combing the scene of the accident.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic sent a message of condolence to the
families of the victims, promising the authorities' help.
Miners have "one of the hardest professions in the world, which has
always required people of a special kind," said Vucic.
Serbia's energy sector is heavily reliant on coal.
The Aleksinac mining basin has been the scene of similar tragedies in the
past.
In November 1989, 91 miners were killed following a fire caused by human
error. In 1983, 35 were killed in a methane blast.
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