Thaindian News

HENGYANG, CHINA (BNO NEWS) — The death toll as a result of a gas explosion which ripped through a coal mine in central China on Saturday evening has risen to 29, the government said on Sunday. Several people have been injured.

The accident happened at around 6.08 p.m. local time on Saturday at the Xialiuchong Coal Mine in Hengyang, the second largest city in the country’s Hunan Province. A total of 35 mine workers were working underground when the explosion took place.

Officials from China’s State Administration of Work Safety said the death toll rose to 29 on Sunday evening after most of the miners who had been reported missing were found dead. Five people were rescued and taken to a local hospital while a sixth miner was able to free himself.

“Search and rescue work has concluded,” the Administration said in a brief statement, without giving details about the possible cause of the explosion. State-run media reported that the coal mine was operating legally and had more than 160 employees.

Also on Sunday, the State Administration of Work Safety said eight more bodies have been recovered at the Jiulishan Coal Mine in Jiaozuo, located in Henan Province, raising the death toll to 14 after a gas outburst on early Thursday morning.

“As of now, [the gas outburst accident] has caused 14 fatalities, four people are missing and five injured people have been taken to hospital for treatment,” the government said in a statement. “Rescue work is being carried out.”

Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years but they remain among the world’s most dangerous with 1,083 fatalities in the first seven months of 2011 alone. There were 2,433 fatalities in 2010 and 2,631 in 2009.

China in recent years shut down scores of small mines to improve safety and efficiency in the mining industry. The country has also ordered all mines to build emergency shelter systems by June 2013 which are to be equipped with machines to produce oxygen and air conditioning, protective walls and airtight doors to protect workers against toxic gases and other hazardous factors.

The first manned test of such a permanent underground chamber was carried out in August when around 100 people - including managers, engineers, miners, medical staff, and the chamber’s developers - took part in a 48-hour test at a mine owned by the China National Coal Group in the city of Shuozhou in northern China’s Shanxi Province.

One of the worst mining accidents in China in recent years happened in November 2009 when 104 workers were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province.