Flooding kills 12 in southwest China coal mine

Flooding kills 12 in southwest China coal mine

2010-10-28 12:27:04 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- At least 12 people were killed and one was injured after a flooding accident at a coal mine in the southwestern Chinese province of Guinzhou, state media reported on Thursday.

The Xinhua newswire service said the accident occurred around 7:40 a.m. on Wednesday in Anshun city, when 50 miners were working at the Dapo mine. Thirty-eight miners escaped.

The mine managers were arrested on Thursday morning and authorities have launched an investigation.

Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years, but they remain among the world's most dangerous with around 2,600 fatalities in 2009 alone.

Earlier this month, a gas leak at a Pingyu Coal & Electric Co. Ltd.-owned coal mine in Yuzhou City of central China's Henan Province killed 37 miners. The bodies of most of them, 20, were recovered within several hours but it took several days more to retrieve the other bodies.

On October 8, nine people were killed, including a rescue team, when they suffocated to death in a disused air shaft at a lead zinc ore mine in central China.

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

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