China coal mine blast leaves 35 dead, 44 missing (Roundup)

Sep 8, 2009, 11:27 GMT

   Beijing - At least 35 people died and 44 were missing after underground gas exploded early Tuesday at a coal mine in the central Chinese province of Henan, the government said.

   The blast ripped through the Xinhua number four mine in Henan's Pingdinghsan city, as 93 miners were working underground at about 1 am Tuesday (1700 Monday GMT), the State Administration of Work Safety said.

   Fourteen workers escaped after the explosion, 35 were confirmed dead, and rescuers were searching for the remaining 44 miners, the administration said.

   It said the privately run mine was in the process of a technological upgrade and had resumed operation without permission from local authorities.

   A preliminary investigation by safety officials at the site suggested that 'illegal production' was to blame for the accident, state media reported from Pingsdingshan.

   Local authorities reportedly froze the mine's bank account and the mine owners were kept under under police surveillance, the official Xinhua news agency said.

   At least 60 rescue workers were taking turns to search the shaft for the 44 missing miners, while dozens of ambulances, police vans and civil engineering vehicles were on standby at the pit head.

   The first group of rescuers arrived an hour after the accident and succeeded in restoring most of the the underground ventilation system by 11 am, the agency quoted local coal official Zhang Jufeng as saying.

   It said the mine was township owned, rather than privately owned, and licensed to produce 150,000 tons of coal annually.

   China reports thousands of deaths at coal mines each year, but the exact total remains unclear since many mine owners fail to report deaths or injuries in an attempt to prevent the suspension of work by authorities.

   Henan province alone, one of China's top 10 coal mining provinces, reported 1,699 deaths in the first eight months of this year, a decrease of 22 per cent from the same period of 2008, Xinhua said.

   The accidents are often triggered by outdated equipment and poor safety measures with many occurring at illegal mines.

   Following Tuesday's explosion, the provincial government ordered immediate safety inspections of all coal mines in Henan, while Pingdingshan city government suspended production at all 157 coal mines in the city, the agency said.