October 26, 2003	Sunday	Sha’aban 29, 1424

NOVOSHAKHTINSK (Russia), Oct 25: Rescue teams in southern Russia brought out all but two of 33 coal miners known to be trapped alive in a flooded mine shaft, officials said on Saturday.

But a further 13 men were still unaccounted for following Thursday evening’s mining accident, when waters from an underground lake surged through tunnels 800 metres below ground.

Survivor after survivor emerged with pitch-black faces and hair plastered in grime. Some were immediately ferried away on stretchers to a local hospital, the others were given swigs of vodka.

Emergency Ministry officials said the trapped workers were in two groups, one made up of 33 miners, the other of 13. Some rescued miners said the two groups had been in brief contact with each other immediately after the accident occurred.

The larger group of miners was located some 36 hours after floodwaters from an underground lake poured into the Zapadnaya-Kapitalnaya shaft, knocking out power.

Vladimir Chub, governor of the Rostov-on-Don region told reporters at the Novoshakhtinsk colliery: “We have contact with most of them but 13 are still missing.” At the surface of the shaft, a fleet of ambulances waited and distraught relatives gathered around to see loved ones brought safely up. As one group of miners emerged from the shaft, a small child shouted “Father, Father!” from the crowd.

As rescue operations proceeded, relatives frustrated at the long wait in freezing temperatures pushed through cordons towards ambulances and scuffled briefly with security guards before being restrained.

Teams from the Emergencies Ministry, one of Russia’s most revered institutions for its handling of disasters, were present and some 100 rescue workers were estimated to be underground.

The Ministry said it was forming a brigade of about 30 people, including military doctors, equipped with small inflatable boats to search for the missing 13 miners. But all searches were due to cease at 9 p.m. (1700 GMT), officials said. Efforts were being made to resume pumping out water from the shafts — still pouring in at 12,000 cubic metres an hour.—Reuters