Another explosion occurred on Sunday at the same coalmine in eastern Ukraine hit by the country's worst mining accident two weeks ago, killing five workers and left 30 injured.
"Five maintenance workers trying to clear the affected section were killed, 30 others have been hospitalized due to gas inhalation," the press service of the Donetsk regional administration said Monday in a statement.
A total of 231 people were working at the mine when the blast occurred and they have been evacuated to the surface by now, the statement said.
It was the third accident in the two weeks at the same section of the Zasyadko coalmine in Donetsk, about 640 km southeast of the capital Kiev. The Nov. 18 explosion killed 101 miners at Zasyadko, another methane blast on Dec. 1 left 52 miners hospitalized.
Acting Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych has rushed to Donetsk early Monday, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency said.
The Zasyadko mine, one of Ukraine's largest, produces up to 10,000 tons of coal every day. But the mine has been struck by periodical deadly accidents in recent years.
A gas leak at the Zasyadko mine in September 2006 killed 13 miners. In 1999 an explosion there claimed 50 lives, while in 2001 another blast claimed 55 lives.
Source: Xinhua
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