A gas explosion has trapped 11 Chinese coal miners underground, in the latest in a string of deadly accidents striking the industry after 53 miners were killed in two similar blasts last week.
Xinhua news agency reported that the explosion Monday night occurred at a mine in Hubei Province. It did not provide details on what caused the blast.
A person answering the telephone at the local production safety office declined to answer questions, and then hung up.
It was the third major mining accident in one week for China, the world’s top producer and consumer of coal, where such deadly events occur frequently despite a stated public commitment to improving worker safety.
A drive to boost training and technology has significantly reduced the carnage of the past decade, but demand for the fuel continues to provide incentives to cut corners in order to rush production.
State media announced the firings of safety officials after Saturday’s blast in Inner Mongolia that killed 32, and the arrests of mine operators after 21 miners were found dead in Heilongjiang Province.
Government economic planners facing rising energy prices ahead of winter responded in October by lifting a cap on the number of coal production days for “efficient” producers.
Officials this year said they would shut down more than 1,000 underperforming mines, though hundreds of new coal plants are also under construction and unlicensed coal operations operate throughout the country.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia