Three new explosions rocked the Chenjiashan mine in north China yesterday but rescuers searching for the bodies of 166 workers killed in a weekend blast escaped unharmed, as relatives demanded better compensation.
The first blast ripped through the mine at 3:25am with another two in the next four hours, high-lighting the dangers facing rescue teams.
PHOTO: AP
Sixty-one people were in the pit at the time looking for the bodies of 101 miners still missing after a massive gas explosion on Sunday, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The rescue team was lifted to safety soon after the first blast, which was not unexpected with dense gas still swirling through the tunnels and fires still burning.
"Because the gas density is so high, blasts can happen anytime," a Shaanxi coal mine safety bureau official said, but declined to say if the rescue workers had been in a danger zone.
An expert quoted by the China Daily said the temperature at the site of Sunday's explosion could be as high as 1,000? to 2,000?C, suggesting that retrieving the bodies would be difficult.
"Improving ventilation may reduce the gas density but increase the risk of fire," said Wang Xianzheng, director of the National Safe Production Supervision and Administration Bureau.
"While reducing ventilation may reduce the risk of fire, it may increase the density of gas," he said.
A local official at the scene said the priority was to extinguish fires underground to bring the bodies out and prevent irreparable damage to the mine.
"The mine's losses will be immense if the fires are not put out and more explosions occur," said Yan Mangxue, the party secretary for a local village where some of the dead miners are from.
"If the mine is destroyed more than 20,000 people will lose their source of income, including miners and their families," he said.
The government-owned mine, which has been in operation for about 20 years, has 3,400 emplo-yees, Xinhua said. A total of 293 workers were underground when the accident happened. Some 127 escaped.
Local officials and families have blamed the disaster on negligence and greed by managers, saying they ignored dangerous gas levels detected several days earlier and insisted miners kept working.
Up to 800 relatives, colleagues and local residents protested outside the township government office on Wednesday demanding answers. At least 40 of them then stormed the four-story building, smashing windows, breaking furniture and assaulting officials.
Yesterday 600 to 700 people returned to the mine, demanding to see bodies of their loved ones and more compensation.
The mine and the Shaanxi government offered to pay families 51,500 yuan (US$6,200) but no monthly living expenses for wives aged under 50, Yan said.
"There are a lot of people out there. They want to see the bodies of their fathers, husbands," said Wang Hongyan, whose husband was killed in the blast.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in