OSCE chairman-in-office: Condolences over miners' deaths

VIENNA - OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic expressed deepest condolences on Thursday over the tragic loss of human lives in the accident that occurred in the Zasyadko Mine in eastern Ukraine.

All possible efforts need to be invested to provide assistance to those who have been hit by the tragic accident, Dacic said as quoted in the release and expressed the belief that everyone would join forces in the humanitarian mission.

The score of victims killed in the coal mine in eastern Ukraine has increased to 31, TASS reported, while Reuters quoted Interfax data according to which the number of people killed in the accident totals 33.

According to Yuliana Bedilo as spokesperson of the Emergency Situation Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, 31 bodies have been recovered by now and the search for one missing miner is underway.

After the accident, the president of Ukraine declared Thursday as day of mourning.

At the moment when the accident occurred, 230 people were inside the mine and around 200 of them were promptly evacuated.

Photo Tanjug/S. Radovanovic (archive)