Coal mine accident kills 7 in northeastern China

[News_Editor]

Coal mine accident kills 7 in northeastern China

2011-12-10 07:03:13 GMT+7 (ICT)

SHENYANG, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Seven people were killed on early Thursday afternoon when a roof collapsed at a coal mine in northeastern China, officials said on Friday.

The accident happened at around 12 p.m. local time at the privately-owned Huatai Coal Mine in Jianchang county of Liaoning province when a section of the mine's roof collapsed, burying seven miners underneath the rubble.

A spokesperson for the provincial safety supervision bureau said emergency teams rushed to the scene and were able to pull out the miners and rush them to a nearby hospital. However, all attempts to save their lives were unsuccessful.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said local police have arrested the mine's owner and operators while an investigation into the cause of the accident is underway. It was not immediately known if the mine was operating illegally.

Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years but they remain among the world's most dangerous with 1,083 fatalities in the first seven months of 2011 alone. There were 2,433 fatalities in 2010 and 2,631 in 2009.

In November, at least 71 people died as a result of mine accidents in China, many of them linked to gas leaks, although one incident included a light earthquake which caused a rock slide at the Quianqiu Coal Mine in China's central Henan province, killing 10. Following fatal accidents, many mines are often found to have been operating illegally with revoked licenses.

China in recent years shut down scores of small mines to improve safety and efficiency in the mining industry. The country has also ordered all mines to build emergency shelter systems by June 2013 which are to be equipped with machines to produce oxygen and air conditioning, protective walls and airtight doors to protect workers against toxic gases and other hazardous factors.

The first manned test of such a permanent underground chamber was carried out in August when around 100 people - including managers, engineers, miners, medical staff, and the chamber's developers - took part in a 48-hour test at a mine owned by the China National Coal Group in the city of Shuozhou in northern China's Shanxi Province.

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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