article_snippet: Preliminary information indicates coal mine explosion was caused by methane gas, according to DAN, the official news agency for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
article_snippet: coal mine explosion occurred just before 6 a.m. local time, when 230 people were at the mine, the official website for separatist-controlled Donetsk city said.
article_snippet: Zasyadko mine is one of the most dangerous in terms of methane in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform, which reported that 240 people had died at the mine since 1999 -- 101 miners were killed in a single accident in 2007.
article_snippet: You took millions of Ukrainians in Donetsk and Luhansk hostage and are now brutalizing miners' families by not letting in help," Ukrinform quoted Ukrinform as saying.
article_snippet: Separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko issued an order to close the mine a month ago, but managers ignored an order to close the mine a month ago because the mine legally belongs to Ukraine, Ukrinform cited the separatists' news agency as saying.
highlights_snippet: Methane is suspected in the blast at the mine .
  