Director of the the Shaanxi Provincial Coal Industry Bureau Huo
Shichang said today that the death toll in Sunday's gas explosion
at the Chenjiashan Coal Mine in northwest China's Shaanxi
Province rose to about 63, and the 103 others are still
missing.
Forty-five of the 127 miners who escaped or were rescued were
injured, according to the local government, mostly from carbon
monoxide poisoning, burns and abrasions. All of the men have been
hospitalized, with 15 of those listed as seriously injured having
been moved to a better-equipped hospital in Tongchuan, where the
mine is located.
Most of those injured are out of danger, except one worker still
in critical condition, said Song Zhigang, deputy director of the
Tongchuan Mining Administration.
There were 293 miners working underground when the explosion
occurred in coal pits some 8,000 meters from the mine entrance.
Only 127, most of whom were working near the entrance, managed to
escape or were rescued.
Most of the trapped workers are local residents and the rest are
from the neighboring Henan
Province, Song said.
Although the main ventilation system had been repaired by Monday
morning, sections
at the No. 415 and 416 work areas, where the explosion occurred,
were still not functioning, making those areas inaccessible to
rescue teams.
Teams returning from the tunnels said they saw light blue smoke
underground. Experts believe the coal bed could be on fire.
"This greatly hobbles the rescue work, but 12 rescue teams with
96 members each are working around the clock to rescue the trapped
workers," Song said.
About 1,000 family members of the trapped miners have gathered
in great anxiety around the entrance to the mine or the hospitals
even though the temperature dropped below zero as they wait for
news of their husbands, fathers, sons or brothers.
"My youngest child, Pang Yuming, entered the tunnel on Saturday
night and he is still trapped inside," said 66-year-old Nie Ruan'e
with a stunned look. "As a tunneling worker, he must have been in
the work area near the explosion site. I really don't know if he
can get out of the tunnel alive."
An investigation team sent by the State Council, China's cabinet,
arrived at the site Sunday night and visited the injured miners.
State Council Deputy Secretary-General You Quan said, "It is
necessary to set up a sound information release system, letting the
public know about rescue work in a timely way." You is heading the
investigation team.
The mine is a high-gas-density colliery. In April 2001another
gas explosion killed 38.
An underground fire monitoring system was installed in the mine
last November, but on November 23 -- just a week before the
explosion -- a fire broke out in the mine. One miner told China
Daily that production never halted.
"The firefighting team at our mine made efforts to put out the
fire and they worked for nearly a week to control the fire," he
said.
China Daily reported that a technician at the mine said
that smoldering appeared in the ventilating shaft at the scene and
it was certain that a coal-dust explosion occurred together with
the gas blast. This makes it highly unlikely that any of the
missing miners have survived, and has increased the difficulties
for the rescue and recovery teams.
Wang Xianzheng, director of State Administration of Work Safety,
led a group formed of heads of the various bureaus concerned and
doctors to the Chenjiashan Coal Mine late Monday.
The local provincial and city governments have organized task
forces for recovery, medical treatment and the aftermath,
appointing staff members to assist family members and attempt to
soothe them. Rescue and recovery teams, doctors, nurses and
technicians have also been sent to the mine from other parts of the
province.
The Shaanxi provincial government issued an urgent notice on
Monday, requiring all mines with high gas density in the province
to halt operations pending safety inspections.
The Chenjiashan Coalmine is a state-owned venture under the
jurisdiction of the Tongchuan Mining Administration. It has more
than 3,400 employees and produces 2.3 million tons of coal a
year.
This is the second gas explosion causing heavy death toll in a
state-owned coal mine in the past 40 days. On October 20, a blast
at the Daping Coal Mine in central China's Henan Province killed
148 and injured 32.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily November 30, 2004)
