Death toll rises to 170 in colliery blast

QITAIHE, Heilongjiang, Monday (Xinhua) Altogether 170 miners were confirmed dead by 9:00 p.m. Monday who fell victims in a colliery blast on Nov. 27 in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the emergency rescue headquarters said Monday.

The victims included 168 miners working underground and two others working on surface in the accident, with one another remained missing, the source said.

Rescuers are still searching with all-out efforts for the last missing in the mishap. The blast went off at 9:40 p.m. last Sunday at the Dongfeng Coal Mine run by the Qitaihe branch of the Longmei Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. in Heilongjiang.

Latest figures said that 242 miners were working underground when the blast occurred, and only 73 of them have been saved.