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The death toll from a gas explosion in a coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province last month has risen to 65 and seven are still missing, said an official in charge of the rescue mission Sunday afternoon.
The seven missing miners were feared dead, said Gong Anku, director of the Shanxi Security Inspection Office.
Eighty-seven miners were working underground when the blast occurred in the Mengnanzhuang mine in Xiaoyi City, Luliang Prefecture, on Mar. 22. Eleven escaped and four were rescued from the mine after the explosion.
The central government and local officials are on the scene supervising rescue efforts.
The Shanxi provincial government has ordered all coal mines in Luliang Prefecture to cease operations, as the blast was the third in the region to kill more than 10 people since February.
(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2003)
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