KIEV, Feb 13 - A methane gas leak killed three miners Monday in a coal mine in eastern Ukraine, emergency officials said.

The leak occurred about 1 kilometer (3,280 feet) beneath the surface at the Bazhanova mine in the town of Makeyevka in the Donetsk region, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Ihor Krol said.

???Three coal miners were killed by a methane blast at the Makeyevugol mine, the Donetsk region, at 3:50 p.m. local time,??? the emergency ministry reported. The bodies were pulled from the rubble and brought to the surface, while the mine??™s operation has been suspended.