Two separate mining accidents have claimed the lives of at least 20 miners in eastern Ukraine, officials said Friday according to dpa. In one accident, at least 17 miners died in a methane gas explosion 915 metres underground at a pit in Sukhodilsk in the Donbass mining region, the Interfax agency reported, citing Civil Defence Ministry officials in Kiev. Nine are still missing. Two other miners survived with serious burn injuries and were taken to hospital. There were 252 miners in the mine at the time of the explosion. Rescue workers deployed 11 separate teams.
