(Itar-Tass) - Some 171 workers were inside the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coalmine in the Lugansk region at 9:10 a.m. Moscow time on Sunday when a gas mixture exploded, a source at the Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry told Itar-Tass.
The explosion killed six. One hundred and sixty-five workers were evacuated, and seven of them were taken to hospital.
The ministry said that the mine avoided larger casualties because there was no fire after the explosion, reports Trend.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has presented condolences to families and friends of coalminers, who died in the Sunday explosion at the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya mine in the Lugansk region, a source at the governmental press service told Itar-Tass.
He ordered the government to assist the families of the dead and injured workers.
Mining Industry Minister Sergei Tulub was sent to the accident scene.