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Death toll triples in China mine disaster
Beijing, Aug 20: Twenty-seven Chinese miners have been confirmed dead after a gas explosion, the fourth reported mine disaster in China in a week, tore through their coal pit, the State Administration of Work Safety said.
Beijing, Aug 20: Twenty-seven Chinese miners have been confirmed dead after a gas explosion, the fourth reported mine disaster in China in a week, tore through their coal pit, the State Administration of Work Safety said.
Monday's explosion in the northern province of Shanxi came three days after a national teleconference in Beijing on mine safety, the administration said on its web site at www.chinasafety.gov.cn.
Mining accidents in China killed 2,798 people in the first half of the year. Official media initially reported that nine people had been killed in Monday's blast in Shanxi's Zuoquan county.
A woman surnamed Liu who answered the telephone at the office of the mine authority said today 25 people had been confirmed dead two others were still unaccounted for.
The official Xinhua news agency said power underground had been cut off because of low voltage and gas accumulated when the ventilator shut down. When the power was re-started half an hour later, the gas exploded.
Xinhua said mining rules dictate that the miners should have been evacuated after the power was turned off and not allowed to return until it was back on and the gas had dispersed.
Bureau Report
Monday's explosion in the northern province of Shanxi came three days after a national teleconference in Beijing on mine safety, the administration said on its web site at www.chinasafety.gov.cn.
Mining accidents in China killed 2,798 people in the first half of the year. Official media initially reported that nine people had been killed in Monday's blast in Shanxi's Zuoquan county.
A woman surnamed Liu who answered the telephone at the office of the mine authority said today 25 people had been confirmed dead two others were still unaccounted for.
The official Xinhua news agency said power underground had been cut off because of low voltage and gas accumulated when the ventilator shut down. When the power was re-started half an hour later, the gas exploded.
Xinhua said mining rules dictate that the miners should have been evacuated after the power was turned off and not allowed to return until it was back on and the gas had dispersed.
Bureau Report