Search goes on for missing miners

The search for 23 miners who were trapped underground after a gas explosion at the Tsentralnaya colliery outside the Arctic town of Vorkuta has so far yielded no results, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

Four miners died in the blast.

Twenty-two were brought out alive.

The agency said rescuers managed to break through piles of debris overnight to begin putting out a fire, which is presenting the most serious obstacle.

However. the situation at the mine remains "extremely difficult", it said.

A government team, led by Vice-Premier Yakov Urinson, flew to Vorkuta and met on Sunday evening. a further meeting is expected on Monday.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.