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| Saturday, 22 June 2002 |
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More than 100 miners feared dead in explosion BEIJING, Friday (AFP) More than 100 miners were feared dead in a major gas explosion at a coal mine in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, according to state media reports early Friday. A total of 93 mines were confirmed dead in the explosion at 9:45 am (0145 GMT) Thursday which occurred as 139 miners were working underground in the Chengzihe Coal Mine, the official Xinhua news agency said. A further 22 were still missing, while 24 have been rescued, the agency said Friday. Eight of the seriously injured have been hospitalized. The coal mine had 5,500 workers, producing 1.1 million tonnes of coal annually, Xinhua said. Zhao Wenlin, the general manager of the mine in Jixi city, had been inspecting work underground when the explosion occurred. It was not known whether he was among the dead or injured. Jixi's mayor Wu Wei and leaders from the Jixi Mining Industry Group are coordinating rescue efforts at the site and Heilongjiang's governor Song Fatang, was on his way to Jixi, Xinhua said. Two other coal mine blasts in the same city killed 31 miners and injured 43 others in April. China is expected to close thousands of small coal mines this year in an attempt to reduce the appalling death toll among workers in the industry. |
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