An underground gas explosion ripped through a mine in central China killing at least 60 workers and leaving nearly 90 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 survi-vors. As of yesterday, 60 bodies had been recovered and 88 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 said 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 10 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 1 million tonnes, a Web site run by the Zhengzhou City Government said.
Its miners get about 1,000 yuan (US$120) a month for their hazardous and unhealthy work deep underground, according to an office director at the mine, surnamed Jiang.
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.
One of the main reasons for the poor safety record is that many small and private mines operate outside official control, with local officials sometimes being paid bribes to turn a blind eye to lax safety procedures.
One of the most serious known accidents in recent years happened in September 2000 at a coalmine in Guizhou Province, where a gas explosion claimed the lives of 162.
The area around Xinmi city has been hit by several mine disasters, leaving the local community in a constant state of apprehension.
"How can't you be afraid in this kind of situation?" said a woman employed in the dining hall of the mine.
China's economy is growing at breakneck pace and has created a voracious appetite for more energy sources.
Sun Huashan, the work safety administration deputy head, said the accident showed that "there are still a lot of insufficiencies in the safe production in mines ... especially under the current heavy demand for coal."
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