10:00, 28 August 2010

Explosion in coalmine in Georgia kills three miners

An explosion happened in Mindeli coalmine, located in the Georgian city of Tkibuli, and killed three and wounded seven miners, the city authorities have reported.

The accident took place on August 27; 11 miners were inside at the moment; one of them remained untouched.

Five out of seven heavily wounded miners were brought to the burn centre in Tbilisi. Doctors say that "their condition is the gravest." "It assumes that their burns may threaten their lives; all the five are in the resuscitation ward," said Giya Kvinikidze, a doctor of the centre.

Two other miners were placed in Gudushauri Clinic; their condition is also grave, the "Georgia Online" writes.

No official statement on the reasons of the explosion was made so far. Under preliminary data, there was a methane ignition, the ITAR-TASS reports.