Methane Explosion in Serbian Soko Mine Kills Eight Miners

Part of the pit at the Soko coal mine collapsed and caused a methane explosion, leaving eight miners dead and at least 18 injured on Friday.

Sasa Spasic, director of the Public Enterprise for Underground Coal Exploitation Resavica, announced the names of the dead, while the number of injured miners is not yet definite.

"According to unofficial information, there was a collapse of coal in the excavation chamber and a sudden penetration of methane into the working space," Spasic told media. 

Zorana Mihajlovic, Serbia's Minister of Mining and Energy, visited the mine and expressed her condolences to the families of the miners.

"The state will help these families as much as possible. This is a difficult moment for all the people who are here, but also for all of us. The inspection, the police and all the competent authorities are on the spot and are doing everything necessary to find the cause of the tragedy," Mihajlovic said.

According to Serbia's public broadcaster, RTS, the Soko mine has a history of tragic events. A major accident in 1998 took 29 lives. Ten died from exposure to the heat and mechanical shock of an explosion and the other 19 suffocated.

An explosion of methane in 1974 killed 15 miners and the following year, an explosion of gas and materials killed five miners.