Hopes are fading for 10 miners believed trapped deep underground in a Ukrainian coal mine today following a gas explosion which killed at least 36 men and sparked a fierce fire, officials said.
The methane and coal-dust blast injured 43 when it ripped through a shaft in the Zasyadko mine near the center of the eastern city of Donetsk yesterday, the latest in a long line of mining tragedies in Ukraine.
"We can't continue to work down there until the fire has been localized," said Mr Serhiy Smolanov, head of the rescue team. "At best it will take two days to isolate the fire."
He said the chances of rescuing 10 men who remained unaccounted for were practically nil, dashing the hopes of distraught relatives gathered at the entrance to the mine.
"A decision has been made to isolate the dangerous parts with concrete bulkheads, into which an inert gas will be pumped," he told reporters.
The accident in a shaft more than one km (half a mile) underground came as a bitter reminder of the country's heritage of creaking Soviet infrastructure as it prepared to mark its 10th anniversary as an independent state this Friday.
President Leonid Kuchma, who visited the mine today, said there were no easy answers to Ukraine's disastrous mining safety record.
"Who needs this coal? If we don't have the equipment to ensure safety, we should not mine these (deep) seams," he told miners, but added that he did not want to see pits shut down "without thought."
Ukraine's mines are expensive and dangerous to exploit, but the social costs of closing pits which employ 450,000 people at 193 mines in areas with few alternative jobs are seen by politicians as greater still.