23 miners have been killed in a gas explosion at a Chinese coal mine.
Another 53 people were hospitalised after inhaling toxic gases from the blast at the Sihe Coal Mine in the northern province of Shanxi.
According to the state news agency, nearly 700 miners were working underground at the time of the explosion yesterday. Search and rescue work ended early today.
The government has been trying to clean up China's mining industry, which killed more than 5,500 in the country in 2005, but a spate of accidents has made a mockery of safety campaigns.
