You're reading: Smoking possible cause of methane blast in Krasnokutska mine, says mining watchdog

Cigarette smoking by a miner could have caused the ignition of a methane-air mixture at Krasnokutska mine, Luhansk region, First Deputy Head of the State Service of Mining Supervision and Safety of Ukraine Viktor Shaitan has said.

"The expert commission is still preparing its findings, but the only thing I can say is that several packs of cigarettes were found in the mine, and the methane-air mixture ignition could have been caused by smoking," he said at a press conference in Kyiv.

Shaitan said that there were wooden structures at the site of the fire.

A total of 23 miners were injured – four seriously – as a result of the methane blast in the Krasnokutska coalmine in the town of Krasny Luch, Luhansk region, on Thursday. Some 19 miners have moderate to severe injuries. One of the miners died in hospital on Thursday evening.