Coalmine blast kills 7 in China

A gas blast at a coalmine in China's central province of Hunan killed seven people yesterday, state media said, the latest in a string of accidents in the country's dangerous mining industry.
The explosion killed the miners yesterday morning at the mine in Lianyuan city, though 39 others escaped, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The latest accident came as rescuers in another part of the same province were racing to find eight coal miners still missing four days after their mine flooded, state media said.
Rescue workers pulled eight miners out of the coal mine in Leiyang city, but another eight remained unaccounted for, Xinhua said in a separate report.