Thirty-three people are missing and believed dead following a
gas explosion that took place at the Daxian Coal Mine in northwest
China's Shanxi
Province at about 4:20 PM on Thursday.
According to a State Administration of Work Safety bulletin
issued on Friday morning, 71 miners were working underground at the
time of the blast. Forty-three escaped, but five men who rushed
back into the mine in an attempt to save their coworkers were also
trapped and are now feared dead.
The Daxian mine is a licensed, township-operated enterprise in
Yixian County. It is under the jurisdiction of Yangquan City, about
110 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital, Taiyuan.
More than 4,500 workers have been killed in mining accidents
from January through November this year, according to official
figures.
Shanxi is a depressed, landlocked area but China's biggest coal
producer, making its economy heavily dependent on coal.
Also on Thursday, a railway car filled with fireworks that
exploded in central China's Hunan
Province injured 18 workers, two of them seriously.
Local police said on Friday that the blast occurred in the
suburbs of Changsha, the provincial capital, at 9:00 PM.
According to a Xinhua News Agency report, all those injured had
been repairing rails at the site when the blast occurred. They were
taken to a local hospital for treatment but there have been no
further reports on their condition.
Xinhua reports that the explosion also caused a fire, which was
brought under control by the early morning hours on Friday.
(China.org.cn December 10, 2004)