Nine die during rescue attempt at central China mine

Nine die during rescue attempt at central China mine

2010-10-09 20:52:03 GMT+7 (ICT)

CHANGSHA, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Nine people were killed, including a rescue team, when they suffocated in a disused air shaft at a lead zinc ore mine in central China, state-run media reported on Saturday.

The accident happened on early Friday afternoon at a mine of the Changqing Lead Zinc Corporation in Yuanling county of central China's Hunan Province, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Two miners in charge of equipment removal at the mine were overcome by a lack of oxygen at around 2 p.m. local time.

A eight-member rescue team that included three relatives of the victims was quickly established and entered the mine shaft to rescue the two victims. However, after they entered the shaft, they all died from a lack of oxygen, Xinhua said.

Eventually, another rescue team was able to remove the bodies and found that one of the trapped miners had survived. He is being treated at a local hospital where he remains in a non life-threatening condition.

An investigation into the incident has been launched by the local government.

Also on Saturday, four miners were killed and another was seriously injured when a part of a coal mine collapsed in northwest China. The accident happened around 9 a.m. local time when 23 miners were digging underground at a mine owned by Xinjiang Shenhua Tiandian Mining Co. Ltd, located in Hutubi County of China's Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture.

Although safety conditions have significantly improved in recent years, Friday's incidents are the latest in a series of deadly mine accidents in China.

Last Sunday, five people were killed and four others were injured when a large explosion ripped through a coal mine in southwest China's Guizhou Province. It happened when mine workers were removing explosives that did not explode during an operation earlier in the day.

And that same day, at around 1.20 a.m. local time on Sunday, six people were killed in a coal mine gas outburst also in Guizhou Province. It left 12 others injured.

In November 2009, 104 miners were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in China's Heilongjiang province.

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