03 November 2003 14:14
Rescued coal miners now face pit closure as Russia deems mine irreparable
Moscow, 3 November: The Zapadnaya-Kapitalnaya mine, where there was an accident on 23 October, is not be restored.
The nearly 900 miners who worked there will be given welfare assistance by the state, the head of the Russian Energy
Ministry's Coal Industry Department, Vladimir Artemyev, told journalists today.
He said that all miners from Zapadnaya-Kapitalnaya who wished to continue mining would be given jobs at enterprises
in neighbouring regions. Miners who still have between one and two years until retirement will be sent on official leave
and the remainder will, if they wish, be given work in other industries.
Artemyev said that, according to the official statistics, 88 miners have died in Russia since the start of this year.
Unfortunately, this is more than in the whole of 2002 when 85 miners were lost below ground. Energy Ministry experts
note, however, that there has been a four-fold decline in fatalities during the reconstruction of the coal industry
which began in 1998 and in the number of accidents. [Passage omitted]
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
