Explosion at Siberian Mine Kills at Least 78

MOSCOW — A methane gas explosion in a Siberian coal mine yesterday killed at least 78 people, with about 39 others still trapped as of late evening, authorities said.

About 200 people were underground when the blast ripped through the Ulyanovskaya mine, which opened in 2002 and had modern gas-detection devices, Russian news outlets reported.

Mine officials and foreign specialists were among those still underground late yesterday, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. The body of one foreigner had been recovered, with some reports identifying him as British.

The explosion reportedly was triggered after the roof of a mine shaft collapsed, releasing methane gas. The mine is in the Kemerovo region, 1,800 miles east of Moscow, which contains extremely large coal reserves.

"The main task at the moment is to rescue as many people as possible. The second task is to prevent a fire in the mine," Kemerovo's Governor Aman Tulyeve told RIA Novosti.

Thirty rescue teams totaling about 200 people were working to save those still trapped underground last evening, Interfax reported. Relatives had gathered at a mining office, where psychological counselors offered assistance, the agency said.

"The chief engineer, the deputy director for production, the sector's head and the chief technician entered the mine ahead of the blast," Kemerovo regional administration spokesman Sergei Cheremnov told the news agency late last evening. "They showed representatives of a foreign firm how gas-detection equipment operates. Unfortunately, none of them left the mine."

"The body of a foreign specialist has been found," Mr. Cheremnov added later. "He was a bank representative who was examining the enterprise to determine its paying capacity."

Rescue efforts were to continue through the night, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

The prosecutor general's office opened a criminal investigation into the incident, which appeared to be Russia's worst coal-mining disaster in more than a decade.

The Ulyanovskaya mine produces 3.3 million tons of coal a year, and its reserves total 230 million tons, RIA Novosti reported. The mine is owned by the Yuzhkuzbassugol company, which is half-owned by Evraz, Russia's second-largest steelmaker.