Local leader fears time running out for rescue operation

MOSCOW - Rescue workers raced to save 59 people trapped inside Russia's largest coal mine on Monday as the death toll from twin underground explosions rose to 31.

The death toll at the Raspadskaya coal mine, 3,000 km (1,850 miles) east of Moscow, rose from 12 overnight as more bodies were found following two methane explosions on Saturday, the Emergency Ministry said.