Ten people were confirmed dead by breathing unknown gas when
they sneaked into a molybdenum mine Sunday night for illegal mining
at Gangtun Township, Huludao City in northeast China's Liaoning
Province, a local official said Wednesday.
A total of 19 migrant workers from Chaoyang City, also in
Liaoning, sneaked into the Xiaomagou Molybdenum Mine at around 8 PM
on Sunday for illegal mining, said Cui Fenglin, executive vice
mayor of Huludao.
While transporting molybdenum ore to the entrance of the mine at
around 5 AM on Monday, they were poisoned by a large amount of
unknown toxic gas and fainted.
Around 1 PM on Tuesday, nine came to life and returned safely to
the ground and reported the accident to the police.
Molybdenum is a kind of silvery-white, hard and transition
metal. It is used in making alloys, electrodes and catalysts.
The cause of the accident is under further investigation.
In northwest China's Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region, fourteen miners who have been trapped
in a coal mine blast since Tuesday morning were confirmed dead,
rescuers said Wednesday.
All of the bodies have been hoisted to the ground and sent to
the local hospital, rescuers said.
The victims were from the northwestern Shaanxi
Province, southwestern Sichuan
Province and Chongqing
Municipality. Their relatives were on the way to Xinjiang, a
local official said on condition of anonymity.
Twenty-five miners were working in the coal pit, when the gas
explosion took place around 10:47 AM Tuesday at a joint-stock coal
mine in Yatuer of Baicheng County on the southern slope of Mount
Tianshan.
A total of 14 miners were then trapped underground and 11 others
escaped.
The 11 survivors are being treated at the county hospital.
According to Gao Chao of the hospital, the escaped miners were
only frightened and slightly poisoned by the toxic gas set off by
the gas explosion. They were getting better after treatment and may
leave the hospital a few days later.
The local government will further investigate into the accident
and prosecute those who were responsible for the accident, the
official said.
The coal mine is a licensed coal production unit with a designed
annual capacity of 30,000 tons. It was contracted to a private
businessman two years ago. In accordance with relevant state
regulations, the coal mine should be closed at the end of this
year.
In a coal mine flooding that occurred in Sichuan Tuesday night,
the death toll has risen to 12, a local official said
Wednesday.
Sixteen miners are still missing, said Yang Zhiwen, vice
governor of Sichuan.
The accident took place around 9 PM on Tuesday at an uphill
driving face beneath the Longtan Coal Mine, which is situated at
Xiaojing Township in Guang'an City, according to the Sichuan
Provincial Work Safety Office.
A total of 32 miners were operating underground and only four
escaped.
The coal mine, which is administered by Guang'an Energy Group Co
Ltd of Sichuan Provincial Coal Industry Corporation, was built in
June 2003 with a designed annual production capacity of 550,000
tons.
According to preliminary investigation, the flooding may be
caused by drilling through a water-eroded cave or an underground
river.
Rescue operation is going on and the cause of the accident is
under investigation.
In related news, the State Council set up a special group
yesterday to investigate a major coal mine gas explosion that left
34 miners dead in central China's Henan
Province.
The special group, headed by Zhao Tiechui, director of the State
Administration of Coal Mine Safety, has four teams consisting of
specialists and officials from the General Administration of Work
Safety, State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, Ministry of
Supervision, All-China Federation of Trade Unions and relevant
departments of Henan Province.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate has also sent investigators
to probe into the accident.
Thirty-four miners were killed in the gas explosion at the
state-owned No.2 Coal Mine of Hebi Coal Industry (Group) Company
early Monday morning. The accident also left 19 people injured.
(Xinhua News Agency October 6, 2005)