DONETSK: Nearly 500 coal miners in Ukraine’s war-torn east were trapped on Monday after their pit lost power when a shell hit an electricity substation.

The accident occurred in rebel-controlled Donetsk city’s Zasyadko coal mine — one of eastern Europe’s largest, where the same type of incident briefly trapped 300 miners on Jan 11.

“When the power went out, there were 496 miners underground,” a Donetsk region emergencies ministry official said by telephone. “Right now, we are making preparations to bring them to safety.” A pro-rebel regional news site quoted another ministry official as saying that the lives of the miners are not in danger and that the first evacuation had already begun.

An unnamed separatist “defence ministry” official in Donetsk said 110 miners had been brought back to the ground in the first minutes after the power outage.

The nine-month east Ukrainian war between pro-Russian militants and government forces has claimed nearly 5,100 lives.

Fighting around the rebel stronghold Donetsk intensified this month after a brief lull and the daily death toll is again reaching levels last seen at the height of the war in August.

Insurgency leaders last week pulled out of peace talks with the Western-backed government in Kiev and vowed to seize new territory that could expand their reach over most of Ukraine’s industrial east.

Published in Dawn January 27th, 2015

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