DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) – The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament says he can confirm only one death in a coal-mining accident in the war-torn east, pedaling back on an earlier claim that 32 laborers had died.
Volodymyr Groysman told lawmakers that he understood that 32 miners were still unaccounted-for, however, following an explosion in Donetsk, a city under separatist rebel control. Rebel authorities do not answer to the government in Kiev and it was unclear where Groysman was sourcing his information.
Separatist authorities in Donetsk said in a statement that the blast occurred at a depth of more than 1,000 meters and that 230 workers were in the mine at the time. The statement said the explosion was caused by a mixture of gas and air – a common cause of industrial mining accidents.