An emergency aid center will be established in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province following a deadly coalmine blast that claimed 171 lives in late November 27 in the city of Qitaihe, according to a meeting held Monday by Provincial Governor Zhang Zuoji.

The aid center will focus on rescue work, including facilitating alarm information, arousing rescuers and providing rescue materials.

"When faced with disasters, rescuers should launch emergency rescue operations efficiently to minimize losses. But the managing staff in the Dongfeng coalmine failed to manage rescue work efficiently," Zhang said.

Altogether 171 miners were confirmed dead by Monday. The dead include 169 miners working underground and two others working on the ground generator room.

The blast went off at 9:40 PM last Sunday at the Dongfeng Coal Mine, run by the Qitaihe branch of the Longmei Mining (Group)Co Ltd., in Heilongjiang.

The latest figures show that 242 miners were working underground when the explosion occurred, and only 73 of them escaped.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2005)