One miner died and another one was injured on November 24 after a collapse at the Mindeli coal mine in Tkibuli, where twelve miners have died in five previous, separate incidents since March, 2010.

The previous incident in the mine occurred on November 6 in which two miners died after a roof collapse.

The most recent incident occurred at 6:10am on November 24 in which a roof collapse killed 50-year-old Sergi Ashotia, according to the Metallurgical, Mining, Chemical Industry Workers Trade Union.

The same miner survived in an underground explosion in the Tkibuli coal mine in August, 2010 in which four miners were killed. Ashotia was among those workers who were badly injured in that explosion thirteen months ago.

The Metallurgical, Mining, Chemical Industry Workers Trade Union said on November 24, that its representatives would be involved in a probe ongoing to find out the reason behind the most recent incident.

Mine in Tkibuli is operated by Saknakhshiri, a daughter company of Georgian Industrial Group, a conglomerate founded by lawmaker from the ruling party, Davit Bezhuashvili - a brother of Gela Bezhuashvili, chief of the Georgian intelligence service.

The operator company has recently introduced GEL 40,000 life insurance for the mine workers; but the insurance provider will cover no more than five fatalities annually, according to the mine workers trade union.