Gas leak kills 8 in SW China coal mine

[News_Editor]

Gas leak kills 8 in SW China coal mine

2011-03-28 13:08:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

GUIYANG, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- A gas leak at a coal mine in southwest China killed eight workers on early Monday morning, state-run media reported. Several others were injured.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said the incident happened at around 3.30 a.m. local time at the Luoduo coal mine in Yuni Township, part of Panxian County in Guizhou Province. A total of 95 miners were underground when it happened.

According to Tan Bo, a deputy director of the county press office, 84 miners were able to escape themselves while eight others were found dead. Three other people were taken to hospital and their conditions were not immediately known.

Xinhua cited Tan as saying that the mine was under technological renovation to expand annual capacity to 300,000 tonnes from 60,000 tonnes. The cause of the accident is being investigated.

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.

On Thursday, 13 miners were killed and six others were injured when a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in northeast China, in Jilin Province. Scores of others were able to escape the blast.

One of the worst mining accidents in China in recent years happened in November 2009 when 104 workers were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province.

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