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23 January, 2006
The worst Romanian mining catastrophe in 20 years occurred on 14 January when a methane gas explosion occurred at the Anina Mine in the southwestern part of the country.
Seven miners were killed and five seriously injured by the blast at the 200-year-old mine owned by state-run Benat Mining Co. The mine was scheduled to be closed in October 2006, but Romanian President Traian Basescu—upon visiting the site a day after the disaster—ordered immediate closure.
Records show that some 1,000 miners have died at the Anina Mine since it opened in 1792, with the worst tragedy happening in 1920 when 270 miners perished from an underground explosion.