War-torn Ukraine mourns miners killed in blast

(Vatican Radio) Ukraine observed a day of mourning on Thursday for the victims of a coal mine blast one day earlier in the rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk. Officials in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said the bodies of 32 miners were recovered but one remained missing. 

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:

The accident is the latest setback in the war-torn east, where government forces battle pro-Russian separatists, prompting Ukraine's Parliament Thursday to increase the size of the army. 

Exhausted emotional miners carried the human remains of their colleagues to a local morgue. Nearby stood many wooden crosses of others who died in other accidents at the notoriously dangerous Zasyadko coal mine in Donetsk. 

Pro-Russian separatists, who control Donetsk, said Wednesday's explosion was caused by methane gas some 1,000 meters underground. At least dozens of the 230 workers, who were there at the time, did not survive.

RESCUE TEAMS

Kiev claimed its rescue teams were prevented by rebels from reaching the site. Separatists have denied this, but so far miners have done most search-and-rescue efforts.   

"We can't leave their bodies in there. We must bring them all out," a miner told reporters.   

Seeking to reach out to eastern Ukraine, where many ethnic Russians live, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared Thursday a day of national mourning and ordered a minute's silence to be observed at midday.

INCREASING MILITARY 

At the same time, Parliament voted Thursday to boost the size of the military by one-third, to 250,000 troops, amid fears of more battles against pro-Russian separatists. 

Across the border, thousands of Russian troops took part in "large-scale" air-defense exercises, as well as in Crimea, and the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. 

However, on a visit to Moscow, Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he remained hopeful peace can be reached in Ukraine. 

More than 6,000 people have died since the conflicted erupted in April last year, according to United Nations estimates.