Several feared dead in China mine blast
Three workers are confirmed dead and another 12 are missing after a gas explosion ripped through an illegal coalmine in northeast China.
The blast occurred at 1930 GMT on Tuesday at the Wangou
coalmine in Tonghua city, Jilin province, when 24 miners were working in the No 2 shaft, local officials and state media said on Wednesday.
“Three bodies have been recovered and 12 miners are missing,” said a State Administration for Work Safety official. Nine miners escaped.
The mine, which had gone bankrupt, was ordered to stop production on 4 June, the Xinhua news agency said.
Coal mine accidents are frequent in China, a major coal producer and consumer, claiming 4150 lives during the first eight months of this year, the equivalent of 17 deaths a day.