The solemn ritual of burying the dead began Wednesday in a Siberian coal-mining town, where at least 107 people died in an explosion and fire Monday. It was Russia's worst mining disaster in living memory.Officials say the explosion that ripped through the mine in the Kemerovo region could have been caused by coal dust, but was more likely caused by miners breaking though into a pocket of methane gas trapped deep underground.
Whatever the cause, the blast spread with such force and with such speed through the workings of the mine, officials say it's surprising anyone survived.
The Ulyanovskaya mine complex is located in the middle of a pine and birch forest about 50 miles from the city of Novokuznetsk. The snow on the ground is melting and dirty. Rescuers inside the mine are searching for three miners who are still unaccounted for by pumping out water that flooded the mine after the explosion.
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