Russian Mine Blast Kills 71

At least 71 Russian coal miners were killed today in a methane gas explosion, and fears were growing for those still trapped underground.

An official at the local rescue operation headquarters told Reuters "71 bodies have been found," at the site, in the Siberian region of Kemerovo.

He said 200 people were below ground when the blast ripped through the mine and 83 people had been evacuated safely to the surface.

A Kemerovo emergency situations ministry spokeswoman said rescue workers were in contact with surviving miners underground. It was not clear whether they were in immediate danger.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has ordered the national emergency situations minister, Sergei Shoigu, to fly to the area to coordinate the rescue.

Smoke in the mine reportedly hampered emergency operations.

The Ulyanovskaya mine is in Novokuznetsk, a sprawling city almost 2,000 miles east of Moscow. The huge plant - operated by Yuzhkuzbassugol, an affiliate of the Russian coal and steel company Evraz Group SA - opened in 2002 and produces 3m tonnes of coal a year.

Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry. A blast at a mine on the outskirts of Novokuznetsk killed 47 workers in 2004. That incident was the deadliest in the region since 1997, when another methane explosion at a mine in the city killed 67.