AT LEAST 74 DIE, 113 HURT IN MINE BLAST IN CHINA

A gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in northern China on Sunday, killing at least 74 miners and trapping dozens in the still-burning shaft, an official said. It was the country’s deadliest coal mine accident in more than a year.

China’s mines are the world’s most dangerous with more than 3,000 deaths a year in fires, floods and explosions. The pre-dawn blast occurred while 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Xinhua said 113 others were hospitalized, including 21 in critical condition. It did not say how many workers remained trapped in the shaft but earlier reports said at least 65 were still underground.
The injured miners were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, Xinhua reported, citing doctors at a nearby hospital. Exposure to carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless gas, can lead to death.
State television CCTV showed rescuers in orange suits and red helmets with headlamps entering an elevator to be lowered into the mine shaft, while others emerged from the mine carrying workers on stretchers toward waiting ambulances.
Nearly 100 rescuers were on site, but their work was hampered by flames still burning in the shaft, CCTV said.
The mine is owned by Shanxi Coking Coal Group, China’s largest producer of coking coal, which is used in the production of steel. It produces 5 million tons of coking coal a year.
Courtesy: Xinhua and Today Zaman