(RIA Novosti) -One of Russia's largest coal mining companies said Monday it will pay 1 million rubles ($37,000) in compensation to the families of two miners killed in a West Siberian coal mine.
Kuzbassugol made the announcement after an accident in the early hours of Monday morning in a mine in the massive Kuzbas basin, reports Trend.
"The families will be paid compensation under the agreement between the administration of the Kemerovo Region and the company owners," a spokesman said, adding that the families would also receive social compensation from the government.
A spokesman in the Kemerovo Region said earlier today that four miners had been in a tunnel of Pervomayskaya mine in Berezovsky, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of regional center Kemerovo, when a sudden gas emission was thought to have caused an explosion. One miner managed to escape to the surface, but another is still missing.
The spokesman said rescuers were removing debris to locate the missing miner.
Russian mines have been hit by a series of fatal accidents in recent years attributed by many to poor maintenance due to the coal industry's chronic under funding.
Governor Aman Tuleyev, who is in charge of the emergency headquarters leading the rescue effort, ordered coal companies and mine owners to check safety conditions at all the region's mines, the administration's press service said.
At least six miners also lost their lives in a blast in a mine in eastern Ukraine Sunday.