MOSCOW, March 19 (Xinhua) -- An explosion ripped through a coal mine in Russia's Siberia on Monday, injuring at least three people,emergency officials said.

    A total of 168 people were believed to be working inside the mine when the blast hit at 11:16 a.m. Moscow time (0816 GMT) at the Ulyanovskaya mine in Novokuznetsk, a city in the Kemerovo region. Earlier reports said there were 180 people in the mine.

    At least three miners were injured in the blast and about 20 others have been rescued, Sergei Cheremnov, spokesman for the Kemerovo regional administration, told the Interfax news agency. Eleven rescue teams are working in the mine to evacuate the rest of them.

    Ulyanovskaya is a new mine commissioned in October 2002.