Moscow ? Rescuers pulled the bodies of 38 workers from a southern Siberian coal mine after a methane explosion Thursday in what was the latest disaster to hit the ailing industry.

Grieving relatives gathered at the Yubileinaya mine near Novokuznetsk, 1,850 miles east of Moscow, waiting for officials to identify the dead. Seven miners were injured.

The blast was the second in two months to hit a mine owned and operated by OAO Yuzhkuzbassugol – prompting a harsh warning from Russian industrial watchdog Rostekhnadzor, which said regional officials had sought to close down the Yubileinaya mine in the past.

The explosion occurred about 1,700 feet underground. A total of 179 miners were either brought to the surface or made it out on their own, emergency department spokeswoman Natalia Lukash said.