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Latest mine accidents kill 16, 45 missing
By Mu Zi (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-05 05:30
Three more mining accidents over the weekend have claimed 16 lives and left
45 people missing.
Meanwhile, as officials struggled to work out how many men were actually
underground when a November 27 coal mine explosion killed at least 169, they
revealed that 12,000 small coal mines will be closed down in the next three
years.
Rescue workers are
busy dealing with a water pump at a flooded coal mine in Xin'an County,
Henan Province on Saturday.
[newsphoto] |
Explosions ripped through two separate collieries on Friday morning in
Guizhou Province in Southwest China. Sixteen miners were killed, 15 were
rescued, and three were still missing yesterday.
The third of the latest tragedies unfolded on Friday night when a coal mine
in Central China's Henan Province was flooded, leaving 42 miners missing.
Eight pumps were still in operation yesterday to drain around 3,000 cubic
metres of water.
The Henan mine's owner is said to have gone into hiding after the flood at
the Sigou Coal Mine in Xin'an County, about 150 kilometres west of Zhengzhou,
the capital of Henan.
The mine is a privately-run one and has no safety licence, according to the
Xinhua News Agency.
The three accidents came hot on the heels of a massive explosion on November
27 which killed at least 169 in the State-owned Dongfeng Coal Mine in Northeast
China's Heilongjiang Province.
Yesterday it was not known exactly how many miners were
working underground when the blast occurred. On Saturday officials said 243
miners were at work when coal dust triggered the blast.
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