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.
