A gas explosion at a Chinese coal mine has killed at least 23 miners, state media reported yesterday, in the latest accident to hit the world's deadliest mining industry.
Another 53 people were hospitalized after inhaling toxic gases from the blast at the Sihe Coal Mine in the northern province of Shanxi, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Nearly 700 miners were working underground at the time of the explosion on Wednesday, the report said, citing an unnamed official with the provincial coal mine safety supervision bureau. Search and rescue work ended early yesterday.
One of the 53 sickened by carbon monoxide was in critical condition. The report did not say if the 23 killed died from the blast or poisoning, and provided no details on how the carbon monoxide poisoning occurred.
An investigation was under way to determine the cause of the blast, Xinhua said.
The Sihe Coal Mine, which is a subsidiary of the state-owned Jincheng Mining Group, is one of the largest collieries in Shanxi Province and produces about 10 million tonnes of coal a year, the report said.
An official who answered the phone at the Jincheng Mining Group who would only give his surname, Li, confirmed that 23 were killed and 53 hospitalized. He said no further details were immediately available.
The Sihe mine is located in Qinshui County, about 80km from the company's headquarters in southern Shanxi's Jincheng city, Li said.
China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with fires, explosions and floods occurring almost daily.
Despite repeated official promises to improve safety, more than 5,000 workers are reported killed every year.
The government has been trying to clean up China's mining industry, which killed more than 5,500 in the country last year, but a spate of accidents has made a mockery of safety campaigns.
Booming demand and high prices for coal -- which accounts for about 70 percent of China's energy -- mean regulations are often ignored, production is pushed beyond safe limits and mines that have been shut down reopened illegally.
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