92 killed in China mine explosion
Sunday, 22 November 2009The death toll from China's latest coal mine disaster reached 92 as hopes dimmed that more survivors would be found a day after a gas blast at a colliery in the country's far northeast.
Xinhua news agency reported 528 workers were in the mine, at Hegang in Heilongjiang province, at the time of the blast, and 420 had been rescued.
A spokesman for the mine company told reporters that around 21 miners remained trapped or unaccounted for.
An official in charge of rescue efforts told Chinese television that efforts were being impeded by dense gas and collapsed tunnels. Temperatures were near freezing.
The Xinxing mine in Hegang lies near China's border with Russia and produced over a million tonnes of coal in the first 10 months of this year.
In the first half of this year, 1,175 people died in officially recorded coal mine accidents across China, a fall of 18.4% compared to the same time last year, according to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.
