The death toll from a coalmine explosion in Tangshan City
yesterday has risen to 74, and 32 people are still missing, the
city government said today.
By 11:00 AM Thursday, rescuers had found the remains of 71
miners in the laneway and hauled 32 others up from underground
alive, but three of them died in hospital, an official said at a
news briefing.
A total of 152 rescuers are trying to reduce gas density in the
laneway in their search for the 32 miners still missing after the
blast that occurred at about 3:30 PM Wednesday at the Liuguantun
Coal Mine in Kaiping District, possibly caused by a gas leak.
Managers of the coalmine reported that 82 miners got out safely
shortly after the blast and 104 others were trapped underground.
But investigators found the exact number was more than that.
The coalmine, formerly state-owned, was privatized in 2002 with
a designed annual production capacity of 300,000 tons.
(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2005)