Eighteen miners were killed in a coal mine gas leak in Ningwu
County, north China's Shanxi Province.
A collapse happened in the ground within the mining area of
Dahuiyao Coal Mine in Ningwu County around Friday noon, which
opened a permanently closed area beneath the coal mine shaft and
caused a fire, producing large amount of harmful gas, said sources
from Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Work Safety.
Altogether 34 miners were working beneath the shaft when the
accident happened. Three of them escaped the site of the
accident.
Rescuers later lifted 14 more miners out of the shaft, of whom,
one died in hospital. By 10 a.m., the rescuers found the remains of
the 17 other miners trapped in the mishap.
With vast coal reserves, Shanxi Province, commonly known as "sea
of coal, is the biggest coal producer in China. However, lots of
fatal accidents in association with the mining industry occur in
the province each year.
One recent accident with big fatalities in the same county fell
on July 7 when a blast caused by explosives illegally stored at
villager's home happened, killing 47 people, including school
children, and injuring 28 more.
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2006)
