At least eight miners were killed and others were trapped underground in an accident in a coal mine in southwest Romania on Saturday, local authorities said, according to Reuters.
"Out of the 11 miners trapped, eight are dead," Ilie Paducel, mayor of the mining town of Petrila, told television station Antena 3.
"Families are at the mine's gate, waiting for information."
Another 8 miners were being treated for injuries in a local hospital.
There were no immediate details on the nature of the accident in the Petrila mine in the Jiu Valley.
In 2006, seven miners were killed and five were injured in a blast at Anina coal mine in Caras Severin county in western Romania.
The worst accident in Romania's mining industry after the 1989 fall of communism killed 14 in 2001. Such accidents were usually not reported during communism.