Neglect 'caused' Ukraine mine fire

Ukraine's mines have one of the highest accident rates in the world

DONETSK, Ukraine -- Two more people have died from a fire in a coal mine in Ukraine that officials said was probably caused by complacency and neglect, bringing the death toll to 35.

Preliminary investigations found that a malfunctioning conveyor at the Ukraina mine in the eastern town of Ukrainsk on Sunday caused its line to catch fire 1,155 feet (350 metres) underground, filling the shaft with smoke, officials said. Seventy-nine miners were rescued.

Rescue teams initially found the bodies of 33 workers, all of whom had died from suffocation. Another body was found on Monday and one miner died in hospital, trade union leader Viktor Vernykovskyi told The Associated Press.

Nine miners remain in hospital of whom two are in critical condition, he said. Victims from the country's worst mine accident this year ranged in age from 21 to 72.

The dead miners had been given respirators, according to officials, but were found without them. The lack of any earlier methane explosions -- which are a major risk in many of Ukraine's outdated, unprofitable mines -- at Ukraina mine could have lulled the workers into complacency and cause them to leave without the respirators, the deputy head of the local miners' union said.

He also said the respirators were outdated, and that the mine bought new respirators but had not received them yet. The fire was probably caused by neglect and the miners' slow reactions, Valentyn Adamchuk told AP.

"When I started to work at this mine in 1988, it had more automated equipment," he said. "A worker controlled seven conveyors then, while today each conveyor is controlled by one worker and even that one missed something."

Safety neglect

Mine officials believe unsafe conditions and irregular payment of salaries prompted many workers to quit, reducing professionalism.

Ukraine's largely unprofitable mines have one of the highest accident rates in the world due to poor maintenance and neglect of safety regulations.

Last year, a gas explosion killed at least 50 miners in Donetsk, the former Soviet republic's eastern mining belt.

The worst mine accident since Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union came in March 2000, when 80 miners died in an explosion.

An estimated 75 percent of the country's 209 mines are considered to be highly prone to methane blasts.

The World Bank has advised Ukraine to close half its mines, but the nation has closed only a small fraction.

More than 3,700 miners have died since Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

-- CNN's Ryan Chilcote contributed to this report