Race to save 35 Ukrainian miners trapped 3,300ft below ground after huge gas blast

Emergency teams are racing to reach the miners amid fears of flooding. It is believed the men are 3,300ft below the surface.

The Karl Marx mine in Yenakiyevo, 37 miles north-east of the regional capital Donetsk, had been closed because of safety fears.

The miners were carrying out safety improvements when the latest explosion occurred.

Race against time: Rescuers rest at the premises of the Karl Marx pit in the Donetsk region

Officials overseeing rescue work said teams were unable to push any deeper through rubble in the goods shaft at the mine, in operation for the past 110 years.

Efforts focused on moving through a ventilation shaft to get down to the depth where the powerful explosion occurred and where the remaining miners were believed to be trapped.

Rescue workers told Ukrainian television they believed other miners might still be alive below the surface.

'They say they have heard voices at two levels,' Coal Industry Minister Viktor Poltavets told Fifth Channel television.

'For the moment we don't know what is going on at 3,300ft. But it is our understanding that there are people up to that depth. So we have to get through faster.'

The television said the two rescued miners were brought to the surface in a small metal cage, briefly examined and taken to hospital. Both appeared to be in good health.

Emergency: Rescuers at the Karl Marx pit. Thirty-five miners were missing after a gas explosion tore through the mine

Desperate: Hopes were dwindling that the remaining trapped men would be found alive

'We made our way to 2,400ft. They had made their presence known by tapping so we knew there were people there,' rescuer Valentyn Kliyenko said.

'We put them in the cage, took them up and handed them over to the medics.'

Five staff on the surface suffered burns and other injuries after being struck by equipment tossed about in the explosion, which blocked the two main shafts.

Veteran miners described it as one of the most powerful blasts experienced in the industry.

Gas explosions are a frequent occurrence in Ukraine's mines, many of which are unprofitable and date from the 19th century. Many coal deposits are at a depth of 1 km or more, making mining operations more difficult.

The Karl Marx mine in the town of Yenakiyevo was one of 23 where work had been suspended to check on documented safety violations and only restoration and repair work was permitted.

Officials said such work was being conducted at the colliery on Sunday and dangerous concentrations of gas had been detected shortly before the blast.

Post-Soviet authorities have come under pressure to shut down the pits.

Eleven miners were killed in the last explosion in the Donbass coalfield two weeks ago. Three blasts at the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk late last year killed 106 men in two weeks.