Some 111 people have been confirmed dead in a gas explosion
Thursday in the Chengzihe Coal Mine, northeast China, by Friday
noon.
Another four people are still missing and the 24 miners who were
rescued from under the mine are now out of critical conditions,
according to sources with the local government.
So
far, 60 bodies have been retrieved from the mine. Rescue efforts
for the missing are in full swing.
A
total of 139 miners were working underground when the fatal
explosion occurred at 9:45 Thursday at the coal mine under the Jixi
Mining Administrative Bureau in Heilongjiang Province.
The coal mine has 5,500 workers, producing 1.1 million tons of coal
annually.
The State Administration of Coal-mine Safety has ordered the 10
coal mines under the bureau to stop production for
rectification.
(China
Daily June 21, 2002)