Sunday, February 22, 2009
At least 74 miners were killed and 114 wounded, several of them seriously, after a gas explosion occurred on Sunday in a coal mine in northern China, state media reported. It was the deadliest mining accident in China in over a year.
China's mines are considered the most dangerous in the world, with over 3,000 deaths a year from fires, floods and explosions.
The Xinhua news agency reported that the gas explosion occurred before dawn, when there were 436 workers in the coal mine of Tunlan, belonging to the Group in Shanxi Jiaomei City Gujiao near Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi.
At least 74 miners were killed and 113 were hospitalized, 21 of them in serious condition, Xinhua said information. Six of the seriously injured were in critical condition, said the news agency.
By Sunday night, all the trapped miners had been found, Xinhua said citing rescue officials. No other details were provided.
A miner who was hospitalized, Huancheng Xue said, according to Xinhua, the foreman ordered him to flee, because the ventilation system had stopped working.
"At that time the underground electricity supply was cut off and we had to walk out," said the miner. He added that he fainted when he was about to reach the exit, after walking about 40 minutes.
Xinhua said that most of the injured miners were poisoned by the inhalation of carbon dioxide, according to doctors at a hospital nearby. The carbon dioxide can cause death.
CCTV state television showed footage of rescue workers with orange uniforms and helmets with red lights, entering the elevator down into the mine tunnels, while others came from the same workers carrying stretchers and ambulances came in they were waiting at the scene.
The owner of the mine is the Shanxi Jiaomei Group, the largest producer of coke in China, which is used in steel production. The company operates 28 mines.
There had been no accidents in the mine Tunlan in the last decade, Xinhua reported. The mine produces five million tonnes of coking coal per year.
Although the Chinese authorities have sought to reduce accidents of this activity to close more than 1,000 small and dangerous mines last year, the country's mining industry remains the deadliest in the world.
