Twenty-nine miners have died in a coal mine gas leak in
southwest China's Guizhou Province, and six others are still
missing, rescuers said on Thursday.
The gas leak at Qunli Coal Mine in Nayong County occurred at
2:10 PM on Thursday while 86 miners were working in the shaft.
Fifty-two were rescued, but one of them died after emergency
treatment, rescuers said.
Rescuers have retrieved 28 bodies from underground.
"The other six miners have very slim chances of survival, but
the search will continue," a rescuer said.
Seven of the 52 rescued miners were injured, two severely, and
they are now being treated at two nearby hospitals.
The cause of the gas leak was not immediately known.
The Qunli Coal Mine is a licensed colliery with an annual
production capacity of 300,000 tons.
Following the accident, the provincial authorities ordered all
local coal mines in the county to suspend production in order to
root out hidden safety loopholes.
Since late August, the province has reported five coal mine gas
leaks and explosions, killing a total of 20 miners, the local work
safety authorities said.
China has reported 1,920 coal mine accidents from January to
October, down 20.2 percent from the same period last year. A total
of 3,069 deaths were involved, down 19 percent, according to the
latest statistics from the State Administration of Work Safety.
But Li Yizhong, head of the administration, maintained that the
situations focused on industrial safety remained harsh as the
amount of accidents were still phenomenal.
"Brutal accidents still happen from time to time because some
local departments have acted gently when dealing with malpractice
and closing down illegal production," Li said in a signed article
released on Monday to mark the five-year anniversary of the Law of
Safety Production.
He urged all appropriate departments to remain sober-minded and
make persistent efforts to rise to the arduous task ahead.
(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2007)