New coal mine horror leaves four miners dead and another four missing

Another four were trapped underground at the pit, on the the most modern in the Kuzbass coal field. A search has been called off for them due to the extreme dangers at the mine which is now being partially flooded with 5,000 cubic metres of waher to reduce safety risks. 

Accounts suggest the hopes of finding them alive are negligible. 

'After flare-up of methane the mine was filled with smoke creating an unfavourable gas situation', said a source.

To continue looking for the lsot men would imperil the lives of rescuers, it was claimed. 

Some 69 men were successfully brought up to the surface after the methane explosion early on Sunday morning.

Of the four confirmed dead, a 45 year old miner was killed by head and body injuries and three others, aged 27, 28 and 37, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The victims were not named.

'Mine No. 7 is a modern enterprise with up-to-date equipment, surveillance and control systems," said a spokesman for the regional government cited by RIA Novosti.

'That is why, specialists have determined without any difficulty the location of the remaining four miners with an accuracy of up to a centimetre."

Two powerful methane blasts at the Raspadskaya mine near the west-Siberian town of Mezhdurechensk in May 2010, killed 91 people, including rescue workers. 

Payments of three million roubles will go to the families of the dead miners - amounting to around $100,000.

'Children of the dead miners will annually spend their holidays at health resorts free of charge. The questions of improving the housing conditions of the families and the education of their children will be considered. Students will receive special scholarships until the age of 23,' said governor Aman Tuleyev's press service. 

An investigation is looking at whether there were faults at the mine which put workers at risk from the methane explosion.