030401

Gas blast kills in Chinese coal mine

BEIJING: A gas explosion killed at least 16 workers deep in a coal mine in northeastern China, a local official said on Monday.

A woman at the coal office in Xinbin County, Liaoning province, where Sunday's deadly explosion happened, said that of the 46 miners on duty at the time of the blast, 16 died, 10 were missing and 20 escaped.

The explosion occurred in the state-owned Majiazi Coal Mine, a three-hour drive from Fushun, 600 km (370 miles) east of Beijing, she told Reuters.

China's mining industry is one of the world's biggest and deadliest, with about 7,000 people killed in mining accidents last year.

Earlier this month an explosion at a mine in the northern province of Shanxi killed at least 62 people.-Reuters