MOSCOW, Feb 9: A methane blast in a coal mine in southern Siberia killed 21 people on Wednesday with four others missing, presumed to be still trapped underground, the Russian emergencies ministry said.

Local rescue officials quoted by news agencies had earlier reported that 17 miners - including rescue personnel - were killed in the mine in Kuzbass, with nine others missing. But the death toll climbed as more bodies were recovered from the scene, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in Moscow said. Four people were injured, one of whom was hospitalized.

Over 30 miners and rescuers were underground at the time of the blast, walling off the mine's old shafts. A fire had broken out on Tuesday in the mine, which explained the presence of rescue personnel. Russia's coal mining industry is largely unprofitable, suffering from chronic under funding and notoriously accident-prone.-AFP