Hegang (China): Too many miners were below
ground at a Chinese coal mine where 104 workers were killed in
a gas explosion, a safety official charged on Tuesday as rescuers
said there was no hope for four missing men.
Press reports quoted Zhao Tiechui, deputy head of the
state work safety agency, as saying overcrowded shafts were
among the factors in the disaster at the Xingxing mine in
northeast China.
"Excessively large coal faces being mined, too many
people below ground and insufficient ventilation were factors
in the accident," Zhao was quoted saying by various media.
The explosion tore through the mine in the rust belt city
of Hegang early Saturday when more than 500 miners were below
ground, officials said.
Zhang Fucheng, who is leading the rescue effort in frigid
Heilongjiang province, said the four miners still missing had
not yet been reached but were almost certainly dead.
"We are in the process of digging out the four people.
They are definitely dead. They have no oxygen," Zhang told
reporters.
The sober assessment appeared to snuff out the final
glimmer of hope in the horrific accident, China's worst mine
disaster in at least two years.
Relatives of victims have angrily demanded answers about
the disaster as officials said a preliminary investigation
pointed to poor management at the mine, one of China's oldest
and largest.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 15:45