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Rescue teams in Ukraine are battling to save dozens of miners trapped underground after a gas explosion.
The rescuers are trying to reach the men through a shaft that has been damaged by the blast and are racing against time amid fears of flooding, as BBC reports.
Rescuers in the eastern Donetsk region have brought out two survivors. An estimated 35 men remain underground.
Explosions are frequent in Ukraine's mines. Three blasts in the region late last year killed more than 100 men.
The miners were carrying out work to improve safety when the latest explosion occurred.
Andriy Bondarenko, a senior rescue official, said the fate of those trapped was unknown.
The rescuers reached 625m (2,050 feet) but could not go any further - although they could hear voices coming from about 700m, officials say.
Deputy Prime Minister Olexander Turchinov said underground water would flood the mine within a few hours.
Two men were rescued early on Monday, but the fate of the others remains unclear.
The leader of the independent miners' union, Mikhailo Volynets, was pessimistic about the chances for the trapped men.
"If people were injured outside the mine, it is hard to imagine that people survived inside," he said.
The blast occurred at early on Sunday, 1,000m below the surface of the Karl Marx mine in Yenakiyevo, 60km (37 miles) north-east of the regional capital Donetsk.
Families of the trapped men gathered outside the complex to await news.
Work was suspended at 20 mines in the region following an explosion on 23 May that killed 11 people.
// 09.06.2008 09:09
News URL: http://news.mediaport.info/eng/ukraine/2008/4149.shtml
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