VATICAN CITY, July 21 (AFP) - Pope John Paul II on Wednesday sent a message of sorrow and solidarity to the relatives of more than 30 people killed in an explosion at a mine in eastern Ukraine.
The pontiff, in his message to the Archbishop of Donetsk-Kharkiv asked him to relay "his feelings of sharing in the grief and of solidarity with all those suffering because of the serious accident".
Hopes are fading for the rescue of five miners still missing after the methane gas blast late Monday in the Krasnolimanskaya mine in the eastern Donetsk killed 31.
The accident was the deadliest in the former Soviet republic since July 2002.