Seven miners have been killed by a methane blast at a Russian coal mine.
Many miners were brought to the surface safely at the mine in Siberia’s western Kemerovo region, but 64 are still underground. Four miners are injured.
A total of 312 miners were inside the Raspadskaya mine near Mezhdurechensk at the time of the blast, Russia’s emergency situations ministry said.
Many of the country’s mines have poor safety standards and have not been updated since the fall of communism.
The governor of Kemerovo, Aman Tuleyev, has taken charge of the rescue operation.
The mine, about 300km (190 miles) east of Moscow, produces about eight million tons of coal a year, according to its website.
Kemerovo is part of the major coal-producing Kuzbass region.
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