Rescue crews reported Monday pulling 69 bodies from a coal mine rocked by an explosion that trapped 179 pit workers. Officials said they believed all still below were dead.
Rescuers working around the clock since the blast late Sunday reported problems reaching remaining miners. Tons of concrete blocks and other debris blocked the shaft where the explosion occurred.The blast at the Dobrnja-Jug pit of the Kreka mine, 90 miles west of Belgrade, left a crater 45 feet wide and about 15 feet deep. The explosion was thought to have been caused by a buildup of either coal dust or methane gas.
Only one man, who was working near the surface, was pulled alive from the mine, said Vidan Krsnanovic, a director of the rescue operation.
Bosko Zelic, a member of the mine's managing board, said 180 miners were in the pit at the time of the explosion, and that no other survivors were likely. Earlier reports indicated 169 were below ground.
If the trapped pit workers died, it would be the worst mining disaster in Yugoslav history.
There was no immediate indication how far underground the miners were trapped. The blast occurred at a depth of about 1,500 feet.
Tangled ruins of the conveyor belt that carried coal from the shaft were scattered around the mine's mouth. Huge pieces of a concrete archway that formed the mine entrance were being pulled away by cranes.
The force of the blast ripped out steel supports and ventilation equipment, the Tanjug news agency reported.
Kreka mine, one of the oldest in Yugoslavia, was the site of a week-long strike for higher pay that ended Friday. Mining experts interviewed by Belgrade radio said high concentrations of the highly flammable methane gas might have accumulated in the shafts during the strike.
Yugoslavia's worst mining disasters occurred in 1965, when 128 miners died in another colliery in Bosnia.