One of three blocked coalminers raised to surface.

17/7 Tass 136

SYKTYVKAR, July 17 (Itar-Tass) —— Rostislav Korniyuk, one of the three workers blocked by caved-in rock inside the Severnaya coalmine of the Vorkutaugol Company in Komi on Saturday, has been raised to the surface.

He is in satisfactory condition, doctors have given him an anti-shock injection, Vorkutaugol press office head Yevgeny Sukharev told Itar-Tass.

The miner can walk and has no visible injuries. He will be sent to hospital for a more profound examination.

Rescuers still hope to find alive the two missing workers – Dmitry Gurzhiy born in 1981 and Svyatoslav Vorozhtsov born in 1970.

The Komi investigations department has started a preliminary investigation of the coalmine accident. Documentation is being seized at the coalmine administration to check its compliance with safety requirements.

There are two theories of the accident, i.e. a dynamic phenomenon and a human factor. The latter is unlikely because no works were in progress at the moment the accident happened.

“The rescue of the blocked miners is the No 1 task; the establishment of the causes of the accident and the cleanup of its aftermath are secondary,” head of the regional emergency situations commission Konstantin Romadanov said.

Rock caved in inside the coalmine at about 6:00 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday. There were 79 people underground at the accident moment, and 76 of them were immediately raised to the surface. The coalmine resumed operation at about 1:00 a.m. on Sunday.

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