Eurasia Press & News
One miner was killed and 14 others were injured over the weekend in an explosion of methane in a coal mine at Stranjani near central Bosnian town of Zenica.
Two out of the 14 injured miners are in a critical condition with severe burns and Bosnian officials have been trying to arrange urgent medical evacuation to better equipped western hospitals for at least one of them.
The accident, which took place on Saturday morning, triggered strong criticism from workers and union representatives, who say that the tragedy shows the difficult position of Bosnian miners and underscores the need for modernisation of its mines.
Local officials said the accident will be investigated, especially since the blast occurred after the miners were alerted of accumulated methane and evacuated the pit. The explosion took place at the moment when a specialized team, which was sent in after the evacuation, was trying to erect so-called separators that were supposed to stop the accumulation of methane.
The miner who was killed over the weekend, 33-year old Almir Babic, was married and had two children. He lived in a crumbling shack only a few hundred meters away from the mine, which he was allowed to use by his collegues since he and his family had no house of their own.
Because of the poor situation with the local mining industry, several accidents have occurred in Bosnian mines over past decades. The single worst tragedy took place almost 19 years ago, when 180 miners were killed in the “Dobrnja-jug” pit of the Kreka coal mine.
