Death toll in Siberian mine blasts reaches 66

"Number of killed increased to 66, while 24 people are still missing," a spokesman for the local administration said.

At least 99 people were injured in two explosions at the Raspadskaya coalmine, near the town of Mezhdurechensk in Kemerovo Province over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Emergencies Ministry's military expert said that rescue operation at the coalmine was temporarily stopped on Thursday due to underground fires and high concentration of gas in the atmosphere.

"Search efforts were temporarily stopped. Our task is put off the fires, to decrease the level of gas concentration and only then to send rescuers there," Pavel Plat said, but did not specify when the rescue operation would approximately resume.

Russia's Emergencies Minister Sergey Shoigu, who had flown to the mine to personally supervise the rescue operation, earlier said that the rescue efforts had been hampered by the threat of further explosions, underground fires and piles of debris; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti.

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