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Scores dead, missing in coal mine blast in China |
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September 29, 2000
SHANGHAI (AP) - A gas explosion in a coal mine in southern China left as many as 161 miners dead or missing, officials said Thursday. A mine official said there were 118 deaths. But others said rescue efforts were still under way, and the fate of scores of miners remained unknown nearly a day after the Wednesday night accident. "There are no signs of life from the mine," said police officer Qian Shixi in Dawan, the town in Guizhou province where the mine is located. The blast occurred at about 8 p.m. Wednesday (1200 GMT Wednesday) at the Muchonggou Coal Mine outside Shuicheng city, said Zhong Tianfang, an official of the municipal mine bureau. Zhong said 118 miners were killed and 123 rescued. "The rescue work went very quickly and smoothly," he said by telephone from Shuicheng, which is 1,350 miles (2,150 kms) southwest of Shanghai. However, other officials said rescuers were still looking for more than 120 of the 241 miners underground at the time of the blast. An official with the provincial government's executive office said 34 bodies had been found by Thursday afternoon and 83 miners rescued. Another 124 miners were missing, said the official, who gave his name only as Mr. Pan. China has the world's deadliest coal mines. More than 2,730 miners died in the first six months of the year, according to government statistics. Many mines are poorly run, lacking adequate fire and ventilation equipment, and safety regulations are spottily enforced. At least 36 people rescued from the Muchonggou mine were being treated for burns and other injuries, local hospitals said. A doctor at the Ertang Hospital in Shuicheng, who identified himself by his surname, He, said some of the 12 miners taken there were comatose. The mine's own hospital received 24 miners, said a doctor there who gave only the surname Wang. He said others might have been taken elsewhere. Zhong said the state-owned Muchonggou mine was properly licensed, unlike the small, unlicensed mines that account for a large share of China's fatal accidents. Zhong said the blast in the Muchonggou mine was blamed on a buildup of gas, but the exact cause was still under investigation. |