Thirty-seven miners died from gas inhalation in a coalmine in central China early yesterday, state media said, in the latest disaster to hit the country's notoriously deadly mining industry.
The deaths occurred in the pre-dawn hours in a coalmine near the city of Dengfeng in Henan province, Xinhua news agency said.
The report said 108 miners had been underground at the time of the "gas outburst". Sixty-four of them escaped, and seven others were later rescued.
China's coalmines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety standards often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal -- the source of about 70 percent of the country's energy.
Nearly 3,800 people died in Chinese coal mines last year, according to official figures, although independent monitors say the real figure is probably much higher as many accidents are covered up.