Mine blast kills 20, traps 23 in China

At least 20 workers were killed and another 23 were trapped underground after a blast at a mine in China yesterday, state media said, in the latest disaster to hit the country's vast mining industry.
Hundreds of emergency workers and medics have been sent to the mine in southwest China to try to rescue the surviving workers, but their efforts are being hampered by a gas leak, the official China News Service (CNS) said.
The mine was hit by a "coal and gas outburst" -- a sudden and violent ejection of coal, gas and rock from a coal face in a mine, a local mine safety official told AFP.
CNS said 20 people had been confirmed dead at the privately run Sizhuang Coal Mine in Shizong county, in the southwestern province of Yunnan.
The state Xinhua news agency said more than 30 ambulances had been dispatched to the mine areas as the rescue efforts.