MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two blasts at a big Siberian coal mine killed at least 12 people and the search for dozens trapped underground was halted after a damaged ventilation shaft choked the mine with smoke and gas, Russian officials said Sunday.
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Itar-Tass news agency cited a source at the coal company as saying 12 people were dead.
Another 41 people were injured in the explosions at the Raspadskaya mine in the Kemerovo region in Russia's coal-rich Kuzbass late Saturday, Valery Korchagin, a regional emergency official, told Reuters by telephone.
The first explosion was caused by methane gas but authorities did not specify what caused the second blast.
Korchagin said 64 miners and 20 rescuers were still underground nearly nine hours after the first explosion, which came just before midnight (6 p.m. BST) Saturday.
Rescue operations were suspended because of dangerous conditions and fears of further explosions after the second blast some four hours later damaged the ventilation shaft, Korchagin said.
Emergency workers were trying to pump air into the mine, he said.
"To conduct rescue efforts now would be to send people to their death," Kemerovo region governor Aman Tuleyev said at the site, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. He said they would continue once suitable conditions are restored.
Itar-Tass quoted a source at the company that owns the mine, also called Raspadskaya, as saying contact with the 20 emergency workers in the mine -- three rescue teams -- had been lost and their fates were unknown.
Korchagin said 12 of the injured were hospitalised. They were among more than 200 who emerged alive after the blast on Saturday.
The deadly mine drama marred weekend celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two, whose centrepiece will be a military parade in Moscow's Red Square Sunday with Russian and foreign leaders looking on.
The mine in the city of Mezhdurechensk had reserves of some 450 million tons of coal and produced 8.9 million tons in 2007, according to the Raspadskaya company. It says the pit is the largest underground mine in Russia.
Raspadskaya, Russia's largest standalone coking coal producer, is part-owned by steel and mining firm Evraz Group.
Rossiya-24 said another blast three months ago killed one worker at the mine, located in the coal-rich area of central Siberia known as the Kuzbass.
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu to ensure everything possible was done to rescue the miners, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spoke with Kemerovo region governor Aman Tuleyev, Russian media reported.
Mine blasts and other industrial accidents have prompted repeated calls from Russia's leaders for improvements to creaking infrastructure and stricter adherence to safety rules. Kremlin critics say little has been done.
(Reporting by Steve Gutterman; editing by Michael Roddy)
Reports suggest methane gas was to blame for two explosions in a Russian  which are thought to have left up to twelve miners dead and eighty others unaccounted for. Local officials say at least 41 miners have been injured.

The explosions come after calls for coal mines in Russia to improve their poor safety records.

Over three hundred miners were underground when the first explosion occurred just prior to midnight on Saturday night and most of them were brought safely to the surface. However, officials report that eleven miners died in the first explosion.

Around three hours later a second explosion occurred and authorities on the surface lost contact with a rescue team below. Following the second explosion, an emergency services ministry spokeswoman told the media that rescue operations had been suspended indefinitely. 

, the governor of Siberia's western  region, has taken charge of the rescue operation. Tuleyev said the second blast had caused more injuries and destroyed the main air shaft. He also stated that there was a risk of more explosions.

"The rescue work will continue when the atmosphere in the mine is restored, but to conduct rescue work now means to send people to their death," he said.  
Reports suggest emergency workers are attempting to pump breathable air into the mine.

The mine, owned by Russian company , is the largest underground coal mine in Russia. A worker was killed after part of the mine collapsed in January 2010.