Nine missing after blast in Ukraine mine

KIEV, June 12 (AFP): Nine miners were missing on Thursday after a gas explosion ripped through an underground coal mine in eastern Ukraine, authorities said.

The blast happened before dawn at a depth of 300 metres (1,000 feet) in the mine, located in the eastern city of Kirovsk, the State Emergency Service said in a statement.

Work in the mine was immediately halted, but more than three hours later there were still no signs of the missing miners, the statement said.

Accidents are a regular feature at Ukrainian mines, most of which are located in the country's industrial eastern region, where pro- Russian rebels now control over a dozen towns and cities.

Many of them are underfunded and poorly equipped, and safety violations are rife.