A gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in northern China on Sunday, killing at least 73 miners and trapping dozens in the still-burning shaft, state media said.
China’s mines are the world’s most dangerous with more than 3,000 deaths a year in fires, floods and explosions.
The pre-dawn blast occurred while 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
At least 73 miners died and 113 were hospitalized, including 21 in critical condition, Xinhua said. It did not say how many workers remained trapped in the shaft but earlier reports said at least 65 were still underground.
Thirty-two of 34 workers trapped in the flooding of a central China mine have been rescued, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday.
One worker died, and the last was missing, Xinhua said. The rescued workers were rushed to a hospital and were in “poor” condition, according to the news agency.
The mine in Pingdingshan, a city in Henan province, flooded Monday, according to China’s State Administration of Work Safety. Forty-two miners were working in the mine at the time; eight escaped, according to Xinhua.
BEIJING, China (AP) — Chinese state media say at least 36 people have been killed in two mine accidents.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday that 31 people were killed and nine others were missing after a gas explosion in a private mine near Dengfeng city in Henan province in central China.
It said five miners were killed and 26 were still missing after a coal mine fire in Heilongjiang province in northeast China.
