China - mine blast

Rescue continues at mine as death toll rises to 87

Article published on the 2009-11-22 Latest update 2009-11-22 11:57 TU

Smoke billows from the entrance of the mine
(Photo: Reuters)

Rescue operations at a coal mine in north-east China continued into a second day as the death toll rose to 87. Another 21 miners are still trapped underground following Saturday’s gas explosion at the mine in Hegang City.

Rescuers had located a site where eight workers remained stuck but it was unclear if they were alive, the China News Service reported.

With the main entrance blocked by debris, rescue teams equipped with oxygen tanks were accessing the shaft from an adjacent mine, braving high gas levels to search for survivors.

The explosion occurred early Saturday when a total of 528 miners were in the pit, according to a statement by the State Administration of Work Safety.

Over 400 miners escaped - about half of them ahead of the blast - with more than 60 hospitalised with injuries.

"Most of the injured are suffering from compound injuries, like respiratory injuries, broken bones and gas poisoning," said Pan Xiaowen, director of Hegang general hospital.

Rescue workers have identified 28 areas in the mine, some 500 metres below ground, where teams were working at the time of the blast.

One of the injured, Fu Maofeng, told the East Asia Trade News that miners near the shaft entrance were told to evacuate after gas levels in the mine rose sharply.

When he and two others reached the entrance, a huge blast ripped through the main shaft.

"I was with a group of ten miners.... Right now I don't know if they made it out," he said.

The head, deputy head and chief engineer of the mine, which is run by the majority state-owned Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group, have been removed from their posts, the China News Service said.

The director of the work safety administration is to lead an investigation into the blast while China’s state prosecutor will also launch a probe to determine whether criminal negligence led to the disaster.

The accident was the deadliest of its kind in China, which has a poor safety record, since an explosion killed 105 miners in Shanxi province in December 2007.