Nearly 400 miners trapped in east Ukraine: Rebels

Pro-Russian rebels said on Sunday that nearly 400 Ukrainian miners were trapped in a coal pit that lost power when shell hit an regional electric substation. A news site affiliated with the east Ukrainian separatist said the accident occurred in Donetsk city’s vast Zasyadko coal mine. The region is controlled by separatist fighters and it was impossible to immediately verify the report. Zasyadko is one of east Ukraine’s largest coal mines. It employs 10,000 people when fully operational and has been beset by problems in the past. A 2007 disaster claimed the lives of more than 100 people and remains post-Soviet Ukraine’s worst industrial accident. The pro-rebel Donetsk News Agency said on its website that the lives of the 390 miners trapped in the shaft was not in immediate danger.