Coal, Gas Outburst In Southwestern China Kills 5 Miners

Coal, gas outburst in southwestern China kills 5 miners < br />

2012-06-05 06:22:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

QUJING CITY, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Five workers were killed on Sunday evening in a coal and gas outburst at a coal mine in southwestern China, local authorities confirmed on Monday afternoon. More than 40 other workers were able to escape safely.

The accident occurred at around 6:30 p.m. local time on Sunday when a group of 47 miners were working at a shaft at the Lianhuachongchagou Coal Mine in the Qilin District of Qujing City, which is located in southwestern Yunnan province which borders Burma (Myanmar), Laos, and Vietnam.

District government officials told the state-run Xinhua news agency on Monday that 42 miners managed to escape on their own, but five others were trapped following the outburst. Rescue workers later pulled four of the workers from the debris, but they all died after being taken to a nearby hospital.

Xinhua said rescue workers recovered the body of the fifth miner at approximately 4 a.m. local time on Monday.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but authorities said the coal mine was properly licensed.

Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years but they remain among the world's most dangerous with at least 289 fatalities in the first quarter of this year. There were a total of 1,973 fatalities in 2011, 2,433 fatalities in 2010 and 2,631 in 2009, according to official figures.

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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