Death toll reaches 38 in Siberian mine blast

MOSCOW — A devastating explosion that ripped through a Siberian coal mine Thursday has renewed questions about the safety of Russia's mining industry.

The suspected methane blast, Russia's second since March, killed at least 38 people. The explosion occurred about 550 yards underground at the Yubileynaya mine in the Kemerovo region, a bleak region of heavy industry and mines about 1,900 miles east of Moscow.

The mine is 25 miles from another mine, operated by the same company, where 110 miners died as a result of a methane explosion March 19. That was the worst mining accident in Russia in 75 years.

An investigation found that an early-warning system designed to alert miners to the buildup of methane was switched off at the time of the first explosion.

Union officials charge that a bonus system, which links miners' pay to their output, leads workers to take unnecessary risks and keep working in hazardous conditions.

"The miners' salary depends on the volume they produce, and in order to produce more, they violate the safety rules," said Ruben Badalov, a member of parliament and vice-chairman of the Russian Independent Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers. "And those who are supposed to control observation of the rules close their eyes, ignoring the problem. There are safety systems in place, but they work only if observed."

Both mines are operated by Yuzhkuzbassugol, a company that is owned 50 percent by its management and 50 percent by steelmaker Evraz Group.

The company has lost 149 workers this year compared with 68 deaths in industrial accidents for the entire mining industry in 2006, according to federal officials. Safety regulators said in a statement Thursday that they twice tried to shutter the Yubileynaya mine this year because of safety violations, but failed in the courts.

According to news reports from the scene, relatives rushed to the mine's headquarters, where a list of the dead was posted on a wall. Russian officials said the families of the dead would each receive about $38,500 in compensation.

Miners with grimy faces smoked nervously as a soft drizzle fell on the rusting and dilapidated Soviet-era mine buildings surrounded by wooded hills.

Kemerovo Gov. Aman Tuleyev declared Saturday a day of mourning in the region. President Vladimir Putin, on a visit to Western Europe, expressed his condolences.

The Kemerovo region is the hub of Russia's coal-mining industry. The area is a sprawling network of soot-stained industrial towns built around mines and metalworks spewing smoke.