Search and rescue operations have resumed at the site of a deadly dam collapse in the Russian Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry says.
"The effort has resumed," a spokesperson told state-run TASS news agency early on October 20 following an earlier suspension of work for the night at the site near the village of Shchetinkino.
At least 15 miners were killed when the dam collapsed at a gold mine in the early morning hours of October 19. Six miners remained missing, officials told AFP.
Sixteen miners received medical aid, with at least three being airlifted to a regional hospital with severe injuries.
Heavy rains had caused erosion of the dam and water had broken through early on October 19, sweeping away several cabins where workers at the mine lived, Interfax quoted a local official as saying.
An unidentified worker from the mine told a Moscow-based radio station that workers had been caught by surprise by the flooding.
"People were sleeping -- apparently they did not even understand what was happening," said the man, who described the accommodations as hastily built cabins.
Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal probe into safety violations at the gold mine.
Deadly accidents are relatively common in Russia, largely due to disregard of safety rules, poor management, and Soviet-era infrastructure.
In 2009, 75 people were killed in a massive flood at Russia's biggest hydroelectric plant in the Khakassia region of Siberia.
