Gas leak kills 19 in latest China mine accident

10.11.2011 [14:21]
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Baku, November 10 (AZERTAC). Hundreds of rescuers were working Thursday to save two dozen Chinese coal miners trapped underground by a gas leak that killed 19 others.

It comes less than a week after dozens of miners were pulled safely from a cave-in at another Chinese coal mine.

Eight died in that accident.

Thirty firemen, 100 rescuers and 300 medical workers were on site at the Sizhuang Coal Mine, Xinhua said, citing Yunnan province`s emergency response office.

The exact number of miners underground is still being verified, the agency said.

The accident happened about 6:30 a.m. at the mine in the city of Qujing in Yunnan, southwest China.

China`s coal mines are the deadliest in the world, although the industry`s safety record has improved in recent years as smaller, illegal mines have been closed. Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002.

Last week, 52 miners were rescued from a mine in Henan province after a cave-in.

The rescue was the biggest in the country since April 2010, when 115 miners were pulled out alive after being trapped for eight days in a mine in northern China.

Gas leak kills 19 in latest China mine accident

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