Police in Siberia arrested two safety inspectors suspected of criminal negligence on Friday as Russia's coal mining heartland mourned the deaths of 51 people in one of its worst mine disasters since Soviet times.
Regional governor Sergei Tsivilyov said a methane explosion was the likely cause of Thursday's accident at the mine near the town of Belovo. The dead included five rescuers sent to bring out dozens of men stuck deep underground, he said.
The local prosecutor's office said on Friday it was carrying out safety checks at other mines across the region and had already opened 28 cases into violations found at six companies. It did not name them.The mine, located some 3,500 km east of Moscow in the Kemerovo region, is owned by SDS-Ugol, a company that produces 27 million tonnes of coal annually and is part of the privately-owned Siberian Business Union. The SBU did not reply to a request for comment.
"Methane was over the limit. My husband came home from work every day and said it wouldn't end well. It was so over the limit that all the sensors were beeping," she told reporters after visiting the facility on Friday."No measures were taken. Here's the result. Just 10 days have gone by and they're all lying in there," she said.
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