Miners killed as coal mine shaft in Serbia collapses

STORY: The Mining and Energy ministry said the accident at the Soko mine, about 250 kilometres south of Belgrade, happened when coal collapsed in an excavation chamber, leading to "a sudden penetration of methane into the working space."

There were 49 miners on the rota at the time of the accident, most of them from the nearby town of Aleksinac.

"There is huge grief. Eight miners of the ‘Soko’ mine died. In the early morning at 4.10 am (0210GMT) they suffocated. So there was no explosion of any kind nor anything else that happened. Simply, the concentration of methane was so high, that they suffocated," Serbian Minister Of Energy, Zorana Mihajlovic said, adding that said police and other relevant bodies had launched an investigation.

Goran Vidic, head of the local hospital, was quoted as saying all non-essential surgery had been canceled and some patients had been discharged to make room for casualties.

There were 49 miners on the rota at the time of the accident, most of them from Aleksinac, RTS said.

The Aleksinac coal mine is prone to methane saturation and in November 1989 some 90 miners died in an explosion there.