The Thursday blast marks the worst Russian mining accident in several years, raising new questions about safety rules in the country’s coal industry.
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“Specialists need to evaluate all risks again, and we will make a decision on further technological operations”, the minister said.
In its wake, Russia’s Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov told reporters that there was virtually no chance of survival for any of the 26 miners who had been trapped since Thursday in the Severnaya coal mine in the city of Vorkuta.
A spokesperson for the mine operator said a rescue operation had been halted since the 26 people still missing had no chance of surviving.
A fresh methane explosion at the mine early Sunday killed five rescue workers and a miner, Anton Kovalishin, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in the Komi region where the mine is located, told AFP.
Vorkutaugol is operated by Severstal, the Russian steelmaker controlled by billionaire Alexey Mordashov.
At the time of the blast, 110 miners were underground. Five of them are rescuers of the Pechora paramilitary mine rescue squad of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations. Officials launched a massive search operation and until now had reportedly declined to announce the missing miners dead.
“The circumstances in the affected part of the mine did not allow anyone to survive”. “Besides, the third explosion had its epicenter precisely in that sector”.
The head of the Komi republic, where the Vorkuta mine is located, has declared a three-day mourning period in the republic starting from Sunday.
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Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin tasked the government with setting up a special panel to inquire into the accident.
