KIEV, Jan. 22 - Ukraine’s largest power and coal mining group DTEK on Tuesday fired six senior officials at its Komsomolets Donbassa coal mine after a probe showed safety rule violations caused a fatal methane explosion earlier this month.

The blast on January 3 killed three coal miners, prompting evacuation of 300 miners and forcing DTEK to shut down Komsomolets Donbassa for almost a week.