Little chance to save nine mine workers in Russia's Solikamsk

There is little chance to save the nine trapped mine workers in the Russian city of Solikamsk after a rescue team failed at the sixth attempt to get them out, local media reported Sunday.

On Saturday morning, a fire broke out at a depth of 340 meters in a mine in Solikamsk, Russia's Perm region near the Ural Mountains.

Of the 17 people trapped underground, eight have been rescued and the other nine remained in the mine.

"The sixth attempt has failed. The rescuers are going up to the surface," spokeswoman for the Perm region's government Daria Levchenko was quoted by local media as saying.

The commander of a paramilitary rescue squad, Alexey Pestov, said the place where miners are presumably located is now technically impossible to enter due to the deformation of the construction.

The rescuers will continue to remotely deliver the fire extinguishing substance to the emergency zone, Pestov added.

The company Uralkati that owns the mine said the fire could have been caused by the construction works in the mine.