Nearly 150 feared dead in China mine gas explosion

BEIJING – An underground gas explosion ripped through a mine in central China killing at least 56 workers and leaving nearly 100 missing in one of the worst mining disasters in recent memory, officials said yesterday.

The shafts of the Daping coal mine near Xinmi in Henan province were packed with around 450 workers when disaster struck on Wednesday just as two shifts were changing over, mine officials said. Battling toxic gases, over 100 rescuers are searching for survivors.As of early yesterday, 56 bodies had been recovered and 92 miners were listed as missing and feared dead.”The whole area has been sealed off, and no one is allowed in,” a member of staff at the mine told AFP from his home near the blast site.The accident is yet another blow to China’s beleaguered coal mining industry.China is the biggest consumer and producer of coal, but appalling safety standards contribute to thousands of mining deaths each year.The authorities held out little hope of finding survivors.”From our experience, with 148 people missing due to a gas explosion in a coal mine, the chances of survival are slim,” Sun Huashan, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, told a briefing in Beijing.The Henan Coal Mine Safety Supervision Bureau said it did everything in its power to rescue people alive, but it, too, was pessimistic.”The situation is very tough in the mine, the gas is very dense, and in such conditions, it’s hard to survive,” said an official at the bureau, surnamed Cao.A member of staff at the Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group, which runs the mine, said the blast had happened at one of the pit’s busiest times when 446 miners were listed as being underground.”We’ve got two shifts, one that works from two in the afternoon until midnight, and one that begins at ten in the evening and goes home at eight the morning after,” she said, giving her surname as Sun.The Work Safety Administration said on its website that 298 people had escaped from the coal mine, 18 of them with injuries.The Daping coal mine, established in 1986, is one of Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group’s largest mines with an annual output of one million tonnes, a website run by the Zhengzhou city government said.Official figures indicate over 7 000 workers die each year in China’s coal mines, but Hong Kong-based human rights group China Labor Bulletin puts the annual number of deaths in the industry at around 20 000.- Nampa-AFPBattling toxic gases, over 100 rescuers are searching for survivors.As of early yesterday, 56 bodies had been recovered and 92 miners were listed as missing and feared dead.”The whole area has been sealed off, and no one is allowed in,” a member of staff at the mine told AFP from his home near the blast site.The accident is yet another blow to China’s beleaguered coal mining industry.China is the biggest consumer and producer of coal, but appalling safety standards contribute to thousands of mining deaths each year.The authorities held out little hope of finding survivors.”From our experience, with 148 people missing due to a gas explosion in a coal mine, the chances of survival are slim,” Sun Huashan, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, told a briefing in Beijing.The Henan Coal Mine Safety Supervision Bureau said it did everything in its power to rescue people alive, but it, too, was pessimistic.”The situation is very tough in the mine, the gas is very dense, and in such conditions, it’s hard to survive,” said an official at the bureau, surnamed Cao.A member of staff at the Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group, which runs the mine, said the blast had happened at one of the pit’s busiest times when 446 miners were listed as being underground.”We’ve got two shifts, one that works from two in the afternoon until midnight, and one that begins at ten in the evening and goes home at eight the morning after,” she said, giving her surname as Sun.The Work Safety Administration said on its website that 298 people had escaped from the coal mine, 18 of them with injuries.The Daping coal mine, established in 1986, is one of Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group’s largest mines with an annual output of one million tonnes, a website run by the Zhengzhou city government said.Official figures indicate over 7 000 workers die each year in China’s coal mines, but Hong Kong-based human rights group China Labor Bulletin puts the annual number of deaths in the industry at around 20 000.- Nampa-AFP