Thirty coal miners have been confirmed dead after they were stranded in a fire that broke out in a coal mine Tuesday in Nanning city, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The miners died from inhaling carbon monoxide after failing to respond all possible emergency medical treatment performed at the hospital. Five miners survived the accident.
Around 4:05 am on Tuesday, a total of 35 miners were working underground at the No. 4 mining zone of Ertang coal colliery when an electricity transformer caught fire all of a sudden and set alight wooden pillars.
The cause of the blaze in the transformer is still under investigation.
Officials from the governments of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Nanning city coordinated rescue efforts. An inspection of production safety in local coal mines, gas stations, shopping centers, theaters and bus stations was launched on Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2002)
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