The death toll from a coalmine explosion in Tangshan City yesterday has risen to 74, and 32 people are still missing, the city government said today.

By 11:00 AM Thursday, rescuers had found the remains of 71 miners in the laneway and hauled 32 others up from underground alive, but three of them died in hospital, an official said at a news briefing.

A total of 152 rescuers are trying to reduce gas density in the laneway in their search for the 32 miners still missing after the blast that occurred at about 3:30 PM Wednesday at the Liuguantun Coal Mine in Kaiping District, possibly caused by a gas leak.

Managers of the coalmine reported that 82 miners got out safely shortly after the blast and 104 others were trapped underground. But investigators found the exact number was more than that.

The coalmine, formerly state-owned, was privatized in 2002 with a designed annual production capacity of 300,000 tons.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2005)