Electric coal cutters had been in use for some time, but the coal was still being hand loaded, although now onto conveyor belts on the coal face rather than directly into tubs.
12.
A government commission found that the tank, part of emergency breathing equipment, was improperly stored and fell between a coal cutter-loader and a cable-laying machine, Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Sysuyev said, according to Russian news agencies.
13.
The machine also on the rails behind the spoil wagon is an early electrical coal cutter the arm extending from the front moved through an arc and cut a corresponding arc in the coal seam which then allowed the coal to drop down in big lumps.
