The families of the 32 miners killed in a coal mine gas explosion in southwest China's Yunnan Province are to receive compensation, local sources said Monday.

Each family will receive 200,000 yuan (US$ 25,000). To date 20 families have been given the money while the other 12, most of them in the nearby Sichuan Province or Chongqing Municipality, will be paid soon.

The blast occurred at about 5:17 PM Saturday at Changyuan Coal Mine in Fuyang when 97 miners were changing shifts. Thirty-seven escaped unhurt and 28 were injured but none are in danger. 

The mine is a privately owned business established more than two years ago. Its owner, a local named Yan Bangru, has been detained. It's alleged the mine operated in defiance of the county government's order to close.

In another mine accident that left 32 dead on Sunday at Luweitan Colliery in north China's Shanxi Province eight miners had been rescued by 10:00 PM Monday and taken to a local hospital. None of them were seriously hurt.

Chinese coal mines suffer frequent explosions, flooding and cave-ins, claiming around 6,000 lives a year. Unsafe, small mines account for two-thirds of fatalities.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2006)