166 feared dead in China mine blast

A gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in north China's Shaanxi province yesterday, trapping 166 miners in what threatens to be the worst disaster to hit the world's biggest coal producer in recent years.

A total of 293 miners were in the Chenjiashan coal mine in Tongchuan city at 7:10 am (2310 GMT) when the blast occurred. Some 123 escaped or were rescued soon after and four more were hauled out alive 10 hours later.

"So there are now 166 trapped," an official from the Shaanxi provincial coal mine safety supervision bureau surnamed Duan told AFP.

The trapped miners were located deep underground and it was impossible to tell whether they were still alive, local officials said.

"We're still trying to rescue the miners. We've managed to save a few people so far," added Duan. "We haven't seen any bodies yet."

Seven local teams of rescuers were frantically trying to reach the miners and an additional 10 teams from nearby mining jurisdictions had been called to assist, Xinhua news agency said.

But some 10 hours after the explosion, rescuers were struggling to make progress, local officials said.

"The rescuers can't go any further because the gas density is too high," an official surnamed Wang from the Tongchuan city mining bureau told AFP.

The gas explosion happened in a pit some eight km from the entrance to the shaft, Xinhua said.

Those who escaped were mainly miners working near the entrance, although some of them were reportedly poisoned by carbon monoxide.

The official from the Shaanxi mining bureau refused to speculate on the miners' chances of survival.

"We cannot say yet. We cannot give up," said Duan.

He said the mine was state-owned and produced 1.6 million tons of coal last year. "It's one of the large mines in China," he said.

Officials at the site refused to comment and the exact cause of the accident was under investigation.

Shaanxi's communist party secretary Li Jianguo and acting governor Chen Deming had rushed to the site to oversee rescue work, Xinhua said.

This year's deadliest mining accident occurred on October 20 when 148 workers were killed after gas exploded at the Daping mine in Henan province.

One of the worst known accidents in recent years happened in September 2000 in southern Guizhou province, where a gas blast killed 162 people.

China's mines are the world's most dangerous, with more than 7,000 workers killed each year in coal mines alone, according to official figures.

Hong Kong-based human rights group China Labor Bulletin puts the annual number of deaths in the industry at around 20,000.

In the first nine months of this year alone, 4,153 people died in mine accidents in China, according to official figures, with at least 200 killed in the past month alone.

Most accidents occur in small and private mines operating outside official control, with locals sometimes being bribed to turn a blind eye to lax safety procedures.

However, even state-run mines suffer from poor safety and old equipment.

Coal is in high demand with China's economy growing at breakneck pace, relying on the "black gold" for its industrialization drive and for more than 70 percent of its energy.