PRAGUE: Five miners died and eight were unaccounted for after a methane explosion at the CSM hard coal mine in the east of the Czech Republic on Thursday, the mine's operator OKD said. A company spokesman said on Czech Television eight others were injured in the blast, which caused devastation in some underground work areas with poor visibility obstructing the efforts of rescue units. State-owned OKD operates shafts in the Karvina region near the Polish border. Spokesman Ivo Celechovsky said the explosion took place about 800 metres (875 yards) under the surface after 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Thursday. 'The death toll has grown to five, eight miners are missing and 10 miners, mostly Polish, were injured,' he said. 'Rescue works are continuing.'