8 missing in flooded Russian diamond mine

Eight miners are missing after Russia's largest diamond mine in Siberia was flooded and efforts are on to locate them.

The incident occurred at Mir mine in eastern Siberia on Friday when 151 people were down in the mine. As many as 142 of them were safely lifted to the surface, Tass news agency cited diamond company Alrosa, which runs the mine, as saying.

Alrosa said that one of the trapped workers was rescued and transported to hospital on Saturday. Although in a serious condition when pulled from the complex, the miner's life was not in danger, the company said.

Chief Executive Sergey Ivanov said every effort was being made to find the other eight workers.

President Vladimir Putin dispatched Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to the scene to oversee the rescue efforts and the investigation of the accident, according to the Russian government.

Mir, established in 1955, accounts for 11 per cent of the total production of Alrosa, the world's leading producer of rough diamonds.

--IANS

soni/bg