Mine explosion kills 74 in China
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AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 23, 2009 00:00
GUJIAO, China - A gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in northern China yesterday, killing at least 74 miners and trapping dozens, state media said. It was the country's deadliest coal mine accident in more than a year.
China's mines are the world's most dangerous with more than 3,000 deaths a year in fires, floods and explosions.
The pre-dawn blast occurred while 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. At least 74 miners died and 114 others were hospitalized, including six in critical condition, agency said. It did not say how many workers remained trapped in the shaft but earlier reports said 65 were still underground. Most of the injured miners were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, Xinhua said, citing doctors at a nearby hospital.
Xinhua said about 80 rescuers were searching for survivors. State television CCTV showed rescuers in orange suits and red helmets with headlamps entering an elevator to be lowered into the mine shaft, while others emerged from the mine carrying workers on stretchers toward waiting ambulances.
A rescuer said in a phone interview with CCTV that some sections of the mine remained inaccessible to emergency teams because of high levels of carbon monoxide. A rescued miner, Xue Huancheng said while lying in a hospital bed that he remembered being ordered to flee because the ventilation system had broken down. "At that time power supply underground was cut off and we had to walk," he said, adding that he fainted as he was about to reach the exit after walking about 40 minutes.
A State Administration of Work Safety duty officer who would only give her surname, Zhang, said the cause of the explosion was still being investigated. The mine is owned by Shanxi Coking Coal Group, China's largest producer of coking coal, which is used in the production of steel.The Tunlan mine has some of the best facilities in the country and had not reported any major accidents in the past five years.
The death toll was the highest in a coal mine accident since December 2007, when a gas explosion at a mine in Linfen city in Shanxi province killed 105 miners, according to the State Administration of Work Safety. That blast was triggered by an accumulation of gas in an unventilated tunnel.
The pre-dawn blast occurred while 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. At least 74 miners died and 114 others were hospitalized, including six in critical condition, agency said. It did not say how many workers remained trapped in the shaft but earlier reports said 65 were still underground. Most of the injured miners were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, Xinhua said, citing doctors at a nearby hospital.
Xinhua said about 80 rescuers were searching for survivors. State television CCTV showed rescuers in orange suits and red helmets with headlamps entering an elevator to be lowered into the mine shaft, while others emerged from the mine carrying workers on stretchers toward waiting ambulances.
A rescuer said in a phone interview with CCTV that some sections of the mine remained inaccessible to emergency teams because of high levels of carbon monoxide. A rescued miner, Xue Huancheng said while lying in a hospital bed that he remembered being ordered to flee because the ventilation system had broken down. "At that time power supply underground was cut off and we had to walk," he said, adding that he fainted as he was about to reach the exit after walking about 40 minutes.
A State Administration of Work Safety duty officer who would only give her surname, Zhang, said the cause of the explosion was still being investigated. The mine is owned by Shanxi Coking Coal Group, China's largest producer of coking coal, which is used in the production of steel.The Tunlan mine has some of the best facilities in the country and had not reported any major accidents in the past five years.
The death toll was the highest in a coal mine accident since December 2007, when a gas explosion at a mine in Linfen city in Shanxi province killed 105 miners, according to the State Administration of Work Safety. That blast was triggered by an accumulation of gas in an unventilated tunnel.