Donetsk power station was hit by artillery fire, leaving nearly 500 workers deep underground
Moscow – Almost 500 coal miners were trapped for a while in separatist-controlled Donetsk in Ukraine, after shelling knocked out a power station. But a Donetsk city official told the Donetsk News Agency later in the afternoon that all the miners had been removed without injury and the power station was back online.
At about midday local time artillery fire damaged the Kievsky district power station, leaving 496 men stranded underground in the Zasyadko mine, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Officials from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic later told local news outlets that 110 miners had been evacuated and the rest were gradually coming out of the mine.
A Zasyadko miner who recently joined the pro-Russia separatists told the Guardian that workers usually set up a mobile generator above ground to power lifts and gradually take the miners out in such instances. He said several of his friends were still in the mine and blamed Ukrainian forces outside the city for the artillery strike.
“They’re still shelling at this very moment,” said the miner, who would give his name only as Andrei. “They don’t make war on the rebels, but rather on civilians.
“Measures are being taken, we can’t leave our people down there. I’m waiting for their call.”
Ukrainian forces have often shelled Donetsk and caused civilian casualties, at least sometimes firing in response to separatist shelling originating in residential areas. At least seven civilians were killed when a bus stop in the city was shelled last week, with both sides blaming each other.
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