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MOSCOW (AP) — A flood in a Russian diamond mine has left nine people missing, the mine's owner said Friday.
Water surged into the Mir mine in Siberia while 142 people were down in the pit, the Russian state-controlled company Alrosa said in a statement. Russian authorities said that 133 people had been evacuated. Rescue workers were still searching for the nine missing, according to Alrosa.
The cause of the flooding was under investigation.
The Mir mine is one of Alrosa's largest diamond deposits. Stocks in Alrosa, which has the world's largest rough diamond reserves, were down 0.6 percent at the Moscow Stock Exchange on Friday afternoon.
Local media reported last week that mine workers recorded dangerously high levels of underground water and that the company had installed extra pumps to extract it.
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