An explosion ripped through a colliery in Ukraine's Donbass coalfield yesterday, killing at least 28 miners and leaving 70 missing in the latest of a string of accidents in the region's outdated mines. Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry said 28 miners were dead after the3 a.m. methane blast more than 1,000 meters underground at the Zasyadko mine in the coalfield's main town, Donetsk.

The fate of 70 more was uncertain. Officials said 27 miners were in hospital, one in a serious condition. The figures put the accident among the most serious since Ukraine secured independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. «There is thick smoke in the shafts and for the moment rescue teams are unable to go where they are needed,» one trade union official at the mine, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said by telephone. Official statements said 457 miners were underground at the time of accident. Dozens of rescue teams had brought more than 350 miners to the surface.The Emergencies Ministry also reported that one miner had died in a cave-in at a coal mine in Horlivka, north of Donetsk.