Rescue workers drilling through a gold mine in Far East Russia hope to reach over a dozen miners trapped under a rockslide within the coming days, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said Friday.
A rockslide at the Pioneer mine in the Amur region on Monday covered the 13 miners in rubble, with officials saying they believe the workers are still alive, though no contact has been established with them.
“In the coming days, specialists plan to reach the places where the miners may be found, to assess the gas situation and the presence of water,” Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Anatoly Suprunovsky said.
“The construction of watertight enclosures and soil extraction will continue in the meantime,” he added.
Rescuers have so far advanced 220 meters into the rubble and have not yet determined where exactly the miners may trapped, according to the spokesperson for Amur region Governor Vasily Orlov.
Kurenkov said earlier this week that rescuers were trying to get through 100-200 meters every two hours.
Pioneer is one of the world’s largest gold mines and one of the most productive in Russia.
Officials have opened a criminal investigation into a suspected breach of safety rules.
Lax safety measures have often led to deadly accidents in Russian mines and factories.
