Blast at Ukrainian coal mine kills 16 (Reuters)

KIEV (Reuters) – A blast at a coal mine in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine killed at least 16 miners on Friday, the Emergencies Ministry of the former Soviet republic said.

Two miners were injured and 10 people were still unaccounted for after the explosion, which occurred at 1:57 a.m. local time (2257 GMT Thursday), it said in a statement.

“The cause of the blast is being determined,” the ministry said.

The mine, Sukhodilska-Eastern, has been in operation since 1980. Last month, a fire occurred at the mine but no one was hurt.

(Reporting by Thomas Grove and Olzhas Auyezov, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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