Rescuers struggled against flames and fallen rock in trying to reach more than two dozen miners trapped in a coal mine Monday, a day after a methane blast killed at least 70 in one of Ukraine's deadliest mining disasters of the post-Soviet era, according to AP. Nearly 360 miners at the massive Zasyadko mine scrambled to the surface after Sunday's blast, which occurred at a depth of about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet). Officials gave conflicting accounts of the death toll Monday. Earlier, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Mykola Ranha said that 77 miners were killed and 23 were trapped underground, but that figure was later reduced to 72 killed and 28 missing, according to a statement on the ministry's Web site. The government's industrial safety agency, meanwhile, said 70 were killed and 30 were missing. One survivor described clambering over the bodies of his co-workers strewn along an underground rail track and navigating through blinding dust to escape. The hunt for survivors was still under way Monday afternoon, but rescuers were battling a stubborn fire that blocked their path to the tunnel where the missing were believed to be trapped. The tunnel was also blocked by a rock slide triggered by the explosion, emergency officials said.
