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Death toll rises in China mine blast: official state media

“It is more than 80 hours after the accident. The concentration of the poisonous gas is high and their chance of survival is slim.” — Unnamed official quoted by Xinhua

The death toll from a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China rose to 24 yesterday, as rescuers gave up hope of finding 20 miners alive in a separate accident, state media said.

Rescuers working their way through the shaft of the Yaotou colliery in Shaanxi Province found another body early yesterday, four days after a blast ripped through the mine, Xinhua news agency said.

Hopes of finding at least five other missing miners alive were slight, a local official said.

“It is more than 80 hours after the accident. The concentration of the poisonous gas is high and their chance of survival is slim,” Xinhua quoted the unnamed official as saying.

At least 36 miners were believed to be working when the explosion occurred. Only seven of them managed to escape.

Meanwhile, rescuers in neighboring Henan Province gave up hope of finding 20 trapped miners alive after a mine flood on Wednesday, Xinhua said.

It would take at least another week to reach the area in the Mazhuang colliery where the miners were believed to be trapped when the flood engulfed the mine, the report said.

Rescue work has been hampered by debris and water in the mining shaft making it difficult to reach the missing workers.

China has a dismal work safety record, with thousands of people dying every year in mines, factories and on construction sites.

Nearly 3,800 people died in Chinese coal mines last year, official figures state. However, independent monitors say the real figure is likely much higher as many accidents are covered up.

In other developments, five sailors were killed and three more missing after a Chinese container ship sank in waters off the country’s northeast, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The Xinmingfa 17 sank on Saturday afternoon with 146 containers and 14 people onboard, Xinhua reported.

It was en route from Yingkou, a port in Liaoning Province, to Fuzhou on the east coast. The report did not explain why it sank.

Six people onboard were rescued by ships and helicopters. But at least five have joined the country’s long list of people killed in work and transport accidents, including in its fast-growing shipping sector.

In the year to the end of August, China experienced 344 deaths from ship and boat accidents, a fall of 4 percent on the same period a year earlier, Xinhua reported last month.
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