AKIPRESS.COM - As many as 36 people died in what could be Russia’s deadliest coal mine accident since 2010 after a series of gas blasts at a unit of billionaire Alexey Mordashov’s Severstal PJSC led rescue efforts to be called off.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich spoke to reporters at the Severnaya mine in Vorkuta on Sunday, saying up to 36 people can be considered victims, according to Interfax.

Efforts to find 26 miners missing after a Thursday blast at the mine were called off after a government-company technical council concluded there can’t be any survivors, Denis Paikin, technical director for Severstal’s Vorkutaugol unit, which operates the mine, said earlier in the day.

Four people were killed after the first blast on Thursday, which triggered a rock slide and blocked exits for workers. Six more people were declared dead on Sunday, including five rescue workers.

The mine can now be flooded or depressurized to prevent oxygen from getting into the mine shaft, stopping the fire, Paikin said.