Dozens trapped in China mine

Rescuers in China were battling against the clock yesterday to rescue 50 coal miners trapped underground after a sudden explosion of rocks killed four of their colleagues.
An official at the state-owned company that owns the colliery in Henan province told AFP rescuers had detected signs of life from the workers nearly 24 hours after the accident occurred.
A rock burst -- involving a violent explosion caused by massive pressure -- occurred in the mine shaft on Thursday evening, trapping the miners, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
A spokesman for the Henan Yima Coal Mine Group that owns the colliery, who refused to be named, said four workers had been confirmed dead and 57 were trapped in the mine shaft.
The rock burst in Henan happened moments after a 2.9 magnitude earthquake shook Sanmenxia city, where the mine is located, Xinhua said. It was not immediately clear whether the earthquake directly caused the accident.
The incident is the latest to hit the hazardous mining industry in China, and came days after a gas explosion in a state-owned coal mine in neighbouring Hunan province left 29 miners dead.