According to reports, around 230 people were working in the shaft at the time of accident. However, 157 of them have been rescued.
At least 14 were injured, and have been sent to medical centers in Donetsk.
Oleg, a welder at the mine, said: "I’ve been down the pit for 23 years, and this is the fourth explosion that I can recall.
"If they didn’t get them out straight away, then later they will only retrieve bodies. An explosion is a terrible thing."
Ukraine government has demanded access for rescuers and police to the mine, which is in a rebel-held region of the country, reported BBC.
Speaker Volodymyr Hroisman in Ukrainian parliament was quoted as saying that 32 miners had been killed and later retracting that one person is confirmed dead and 32 others remain unaccounted.
Said to be Ukraine’s biggest coal producers, the Zasyadko mine started operations in 1958 and is reported to have hazardous levels of methane.
The worst disaster at the mine in 2007 claimed lives of 101 miners.
