Twenty-three miners were confirmed dead and 53 others injured in
a colliery gas blast Wednesday in north China's
Shanxi Province, the local mine safety authorities said
today.
Altogether 697 miners were working down the pit when the blast
went off at around 7:00 PM at Sihe Coal Mine under the state-owned
Jincheng Mining Group, an official with the provincial coal mine
safety supervision bureau said on condition of anonymity.
The official said search and rescue work had ended at the site
by 7:00 AM today and the injured miners had been hospitalized. Most
of them suffered no fatal injury except for one miner who was
seriously poisoned by carbon monoxide, he said quoting hospital
sources.
The bureau plans to set up an investigation team today to see
into the accident, he said.
A preliminary investigation shows the explosion occurred at an
airtight area in the pit.
Sihe Coal Mine, one of the largest collieries in the coal-rich
Shanxi, currently produces 10.8 million tons a year.
(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2006)