* Last Updated: November 21. 2009 3:51PM UAE / November 21. 2009 11:51AM GMT
A gas explosion has ripped through a state-run coal mine in northern China, killing 87 people and trapping 66 others nearly 500 metres underground.
The accident was a blow for the Chinese government, whose large state-owned coal mines are generally considered to be safer than smaller, private ones.
The country’s mines remain the world’s deadliest, despite efforts to close or bring hundreds of them under state control.
A total of 528 people were working in the Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province at the time of the 2.30am explosion, the State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement. It said 389 escaped after the blast.
China Central Television reported that 42 were dead, 31 were rescued and the others were trapped about 500 metres underground.
The report said the explosion was caused by a gas build-up. It shattered windows within 20 yards (meters) of the mine shaft. A man answering the phone at the mine said an unknown number of people were injured. He did not want to give his name, as is common among Chinese officials.
The mine is located near the border with Russia, about 400km northeast of the provincial capital, Harbin. It is run by one of China’s top 520 state-owned enterprises, according to the Web site of its owner, the Hegang branch of the Heilongjiang Longmei Holding Mining Group.
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China mine explosion death toll reaches 87
22 Nov 2009 12:04:43 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Hopes fade for more survivors
* 21 miners trapped or unaccounted for (Adds comment from officials and locals and updates search efforts in paragraphs 3 and 10-13)
By Maxim Duncan
HEGANG, China Nov 22 (Reuters) - The death toll from China's latest coal mine disaster reached 87 as hopes dimmed on Sunday that more survivors would be found a day after a gas blast at a colliery in the country's icy far northeast.
Xinhua news agency reported 528 workers were in the mine, at Hegang in Heilongjiang province, at the time of the blast, and 420 had been rescued by Sunday.
Some 21 miners remained trapped or unaccounted for, Zhang Jinguang, a spokesman for the mine company, told reporters, who were taken by officials to see 20 or so rescue workers descending into a tunnel still belching smoke. By later on Sunday, none of the 21 had been found, Xinhua reported.
Zhang Fucheng, an official in charge of rescue efforts, told Chinese television that efforts were held up by dense gas and collapsed tunnels. Temperatures were near freezing.
The blast was the latest accident to hit the world's deadliest major coal mining industry. The explosion was so violent it shook the surrounding area and nearby buildings partly collapsed.
Some of the survivors were badly injured.
"When I saw my husband, this mess of blood and flesh, I didn't recognise him at first," said Huang Guizhen, the wife of injured miner Qu Zhongliang, a Heilongjiang province news website (www.northeast.com.cn) reported.
"Then the doctor told me it was my husband and I burst into tears."
Compared to other manual jobs, Chinese coal miners can earn relatively high wages, tempting workers and farmers into rickety and poorly ventilated shafts.
Safety staff knew gas in the mine had reached dangerous levels and were rushing to evacuate the miners when the blast erupted 500 metres (1,500 feet) below ground, the website report also said, citing workers at the mine.
Central government prosecutors went to Hegang to oversee investigations into any possible crimes or official misconduct behind the blast, the China News Service reported.
Zhang Jinguang, the mine spokesman, told Reuters that "as far as I know, there were no signs (of the accident beforehand)".
Police in Hegang kept a close eye on locals near the mine, and people organised by the government sought to prevent reporters speaking to residents.
"There's no hope", said one resident who said two friends were victims of the blast.
"One in hospital hasn't woken up yet, and the other, Wang Gang, still hasn't come out (out of the mine)", said the resident, who gave only her surname, Yu.
The Xinxing mine in Hegang lies near China's border with Russia and produced over a million tonnes of coal in the first 10 months of this year, local reports said. It is owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group, making it larger than most operations where colliery accidents occur.
In the first half of this year, 1,175 people died in officially recorded coal mine accidents across China, a fall of 18.4 percent compared to the same time last year, according to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.
A gas explosion in a mine in central Henan province in September left 79 workers dead or missing and likely dead.
Nor have Hegang's coal mines had a spotless record.
Earlier state media reports showed that in three accidents -- one in 2002 and two last year -- a total of 88 miners died. (Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beijing; Editing by David Fox and Michael Roddy) ((chris.buckley@thomsonreuters.com; +86-13501014479))
((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to newsfeedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))
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China mine deaths at 34, separate incident traps 7: report
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– Sun Nov 13, 1:53 am ET
BEIJING (Reuters) – The death toll from a gas explosion in a coal mine in China's southwestern Yunnan province has risen to 34, rescue workers said on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Initial reports after the underground blast last week said 19 miners had been killed with dozens trapped at Sizhuang Coal Mine, in Shizong county near the city of Qujing in Yunnan province.
Nine miners remained trapped on Sunday morning and hundreds of rescuers were searching for them, Qujing government spokesman Li Jianjun was quoted as saying.
Li said a 181-meter (600-foot) section of the tunnel had yet to be cleared, and he warned that a risk of large amounts of gas underground would hamper the operation.
Xinhua said the mine was operating illegally, having had its license revoked a year ago. The provincial coal safety supervision bureau ordered the mine to stop production in April.
In a separate incident, Xinhua said seven miners had been trapped underground by flooding in a coal mine in northwest China's Gansu Province.
The provincial production safety administration said the flooding happened in Sigeshan Tongda Coal Mine in Jingtai County. Rescuers were pumping water out of the mine.
China's mines are the deadliest in the world because of lax safety standards and a rush to feed demand from a robust economy.
In 2010, 2,433 people were killed in coal mine accidents in China, although this was an improvement on the toll of 2,631 the previous year.
(Reporting by Nick Edwards; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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