The death toll from a Siberian coal mine disaster at the weekend rose to 43 on Tuesday and dozens of workers were still missing in a maze of tunnels threatened by flooding, emergency officials said.
As hopes faded for the 47 people still underground after Russia's worst mine disaster in three years, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met grieving relatives and injured survivors in a region that lives on coal.
Putin then walked above the Raspadskaya mine, where emergency workers used heavy machinery and their bare hands to dig through the rubble of a wrecked building.
"I order the most detailed investigation into the causes of the accident, the situation at the mine and the actions of specific authorities," Putin, dressed in black, sternly told officials in televised remarks.
Lessons learned from the probe must lead to "systemic solutions aimed at avoiding a repeat of such tragedies" across Russia's accident-prone coal industry, he said.
More than 350 miners were underground when two explosions hit the mine in Mezhdurechensk, about 1,850 miles east of Moscow, over the weekend. Many of them managed to escape.
Aman Tuleyev, governor of the Kemerovo region, said time was running out to rescue those trapped in areas of the mine where anti-flooding systems had failed.
Rescuers killed
Valery Korchagin, Emergencies Ministry spokesman in the region, said 19 of the dead were rescuers who went into the sprawling mine after the initial blast.
"When you have lost a loved one, it is so terrible and so tragic that no words of condolence are fitting," Putin told relatives of the dead before visiting the mine. "I want you to know, we all want you to know, that you are not alone."
News agencies have quoted Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying that a sudden burst of methane and coal dust could have caused the blasts.
The mine disaster unfolded as Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev hosted foreign leaders and honored veterans in huge celebrations on Sunday marking the 65th anniversary of the World War Two defeat of Nazi Germany.
"Nobody can be forgotten," Putin said of the mine-blast victims and their relatives, echoing a slogan used to honor those who fought in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War.
Mine explosions and other industrial accidents have prompted repeated calls from Russia's leaders for improvements to creaking infrastructure and stricter adherence to safety rules. Kremlin critics say little has been done.
The Raspadskaya mine has reserves of some 450 million tons of coal and produced 8.9 million tons in 2007, according to company officials. Raspadskaya is 40 percent owned by steel-and-mining firm Evraz Group.
