Hopes fading for Ukraine miners

Search teams say they are struggling against rising waters

Search teams are still trying to find 12 miners trapped after a gas explosion at a pit in Ukraine, but there are fears they may not have survived.

Twenty-four miners were brought out alive on Monday, a day after the huge explosion rocked the Karl Marx mine in the eastern Donetsk region.

The body of one man, who did not survive the blast, was also retrieved.

But there has been no contact with 12 others still deep underground, amid fears the mine could soon flood.

"The search for the 12 miners is continuing," the emergency situations ministry said in a statement.

"The water is rising but it is still possible to work," Marina Nikitina, a spokeswoman for the mine safety agency, told the AFP news agency.

'Chances are minimal'

First Deputy Prime Minister Olexander Turchinov, the most senior government official at the accident site, said it was difficult to remain optimistic.

"I do not want to make any predictions, but I would say that the chances are minimal. But there always is hope," he said.

The blast was so strong it injured five outside the mine

He said nine of the missing men had been ascending in a lift and were about 200m (650ft) from the surface when they were hit by the blast, which sent the cage plummeting back down the shaft.

The other three, he said, were about 1,000m below ground, where the blast occurred.

President Viktor Yushchenko accused the government of an "irresponsible" approach to the coal industry, which is still dominated by Soviet-era technology and has suffered a series of fatal accidents recently.

"The condition of the coal mining industry is deteriorating further and the profession of coal miner is becoming extremely dangerous," a spokeswoman for the president said.

Three mine blasts in the same region late last year killed more than 100 men.

The 110-year-old Karl Marx mine in Yenakiyevo, 60km (37 miles) north-east of the regional capital Donetsk, had officially been closed because of safety fears.

The miners were originally reported to have been carrying out safety improvements when the explosion occurred on Sunday, but Ukraine's safety agency later said the miners had in fact been mining, defying the ban.

A spokesman said audio tapes "prove that coal-mining took place on that day", the Associated Press reported.