DONETSK, Ukraine  - A sudden release of methane gas killed two workers and left three missing at a coal mine in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region on Sunday, a local official told Reuters on Monday.

"The accident happened on Sunday, about 5 p.m. British time, at the Skochynsky mine," said Anatoly Vovchenko, the head of the coal industry department at the Donetsk local government.

Eighteen workers who had reached the surface after the gas outburst were being treated in hospital, he said.

Accidents are common in Ukrainian mines, many constructed in the 19th century and barely modernised since Soviet times.

In June 2009, a similar accident killed 13 workers at the same mine, which is owned by the state-run Donetsk Coal Energy Company.

Source: Reuters