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Three miners found dead after Russian pit cave-in


    MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rescue teams found three Russian miners dead, hours after one worker was unearthed alive, while another two were still trapped in a Siberian coal pit two days after a cave-in, Russian media reported on Sunday.

    The accident occurred on Friday at the Lenin mine in theKemerovo region which holds the giant Kuzbass coal basin.Seventeen people were trapped underground after the cave-in ata depth of 400 metres, but 11 of them escaped to safety.

    "The number of the dead in the accident stands at three,"RIA news agency quoted deputy Kemerovo Governor Andrei Malakhovas saying. "Works are underway to recover the bodies."

    Media reports said one miner found alive earlier on Sundaywas suffering from dehydration, had a fractured rib and hadundergone psychological shock.

    A methane gas explosion killed 110 miners at theUlyanovskaya mine in March last year, becoming Russia'sdeadliest mine accident since the fall of the Soviet Union.

    Two months later, a methane gas blast killed 38 people at aneighbouring mine, Yubileynaya, operated by the same company.

    (Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Catherine Evans)