Serbia, Explosion at Soko coalmine kills eight miners

Serbian Ministry of Energy confirmed that methane gas explosion at the underground Soko coalmine near Sokobanja in southern Serbia has killed eight miners in the early hours of 1 April.

According to the Director of state-owned Resavica, the company which operates the mine, Sasa Spasic, the explosion occurred at around 04:00 AM on 1 April, when part of the ceiling collapsed, trapping the miners in the pit. In total, eight miners were killed and another 18 injured in the incident.

State-owned Resavica was established in 1992 and operates nine underground coalmines in Serbia, with average annual coal production of some 500,000 tons.