Twenty-seven bodies in the coal mine explosion in central China's Henan Province have been raised up to the ground by the press time. Underground rescue work ended at 8:00 PM Monday.

The explosion occurred at 4:45 AM Monday in a coal mine belonging to the Henan Hebi Coal (group) Company, with 34 miners confirmed dead, said Feng Shubao, head of the rescue team. According to local sources all the 34 bodies have been found.

Another nineteen miners were injured and then hospitalized, two of whom?were found well.

Zhao Tiechui, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety Supervision, headed a team to the site to direct the rescue efforts.

As a state-run mining group, Hebi is one of the key major state-owned enterprises in Henan. Its total assets reached 4.636 billion yuan (US$565 million) last year.?
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(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2005)