AKIPRESS.COM - At least 13 miners have been killed and 10 more injured in a methane explosion at a Czech coal mine, officials say, BBC reports.

Most of the victims were Polish miners provided by an agency, the state-run OKD mining company said.

Thursday's blast happened 800m (2,600ft) below ground at the CSM hard-coal mine, near the eastern town of Karvina, close to the Polish border.

Managing director Boleslav Kowalczyk said a search operation was being hampered by fire.

"Unfortunately, we have reached a point where it was impossible to move forward, because there was a fire raging and zero visibility," he said.

OKD spokesman Ivo Celechovsky told AFP news agency that 11 of the miners were Polish and the two others Czech.