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| | GEO World | | Death tally in China mine blast touches to 87 | Updated at: 1001 PST, Sunday, November 22, 2009
 BEIJING: The death toll from a coal mine blast in northeast China rose to 87 on Sunday, with 21 miners still trapped, in the nation's deadliest mining disaster in two years, state media reported.
Rescuers have located the site where eight workers remain trapped in the mineshaft, but it is unclear if they are alive, the China News Service reported.
The explosion occurred at 2:30 am Saturday (1830 GMT Friday) at a mine near Hegang City in Heilongjiang province, according to a statement issued by the State Administration of Work Safety.
According to local news reports, the blast was felt as far away as 10 kilometres (six miles).
A total of 528 miners were working in the pit at the time, the state administration said.
"I was with a group of 10 miners (when we were told to evacuate), right now I don't know if they made it out," mining veteran Fu Maofeng, 48, told the media from his hospital bed.
Miners near the shaft entrance were told to evacuate after gas levels in the mine rose sharply, he told the paper.
When he and two others reached the entrance to report the rising gas levels, a huge blast ripped through the main shaft, he said.
The toll has more than doubled from 42 dead and 66 trapped on Saturday.
It is the deadliest coal mining accident in the energy-hungry nation since an explosion killed 105 miners in Shanxi province in December 2007.
On Saturday, President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao issued orders to take all measures to rescue workers, while Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang was dispatched to the mine to oversee the operation, state media said.
The head of the mine, which is run by the Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group, and its chief engineer have been removed from their posts, the China News Service said.
The director of the work safety administration has been tasked with leading an investigation into the blast, it added.
According to the mining group's website, the mine produces 1.45 million tonnes of coal a year and in 2009 ranked 12th out of China's top 100 mining companies and seventh in terms of production volume.
China has a dismal work safety record, with thousands of people dying every year in mines, factories and on construction sites.
Its coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety standards often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal -- the source of about 70 percent of China's energy.
The central government has campaigned in recent years to modernise its collieries and control the leakage of gas, particularly methane, a pollutant responsible for several mine explosions.
Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent labour groups say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up in order to avoid costly mine shutdowns. |  |
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