Eighteen miners feared trapped after Russian pit blast

11/02/2013 - 8:42

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Eighteen miners were feared trapped under rubble after an explosion on Monday in a coal mine in the Komi region of northern Russia, the Emergencies Ministry said.

The blast at 10:28 a.m. local time (6:28 a.m. British time) caused the mine to collapse on a team of 22 people, four of whom escaped, the ministry said in a statement. Paramilitary rescue units were working to free the remaining victims.

The mine belongs to a division of Severstal, one of Russia's largest steel producers.

(Reporting by Thomas Grove and Andrey Kuzmin, Writing by Thomas Grove, Editing by Timothy Heritage)