2010-04-02 07:12

At least 30 other miners trapped as third disaster this week rocks industry

YICHUAN, Henan - At least 30 workers are believed to be trapped underground after a coal and gas explosion killed 12 at an unlicensed mine in Henan province late on Wednesday, the third major mine accident to hit the country in four days.

Rescuers work at the site of a mine blast in Yichuan county, Henan province, on Tuesday. [Xinhua]

The accident occurred at 7:20 pm in a coal pit run by Guomin Mining Co Ltd in Yichuan county of Luoyang, a spokesman for the rescue operation headquarters said on Thursday.

The blast killed eight workers underground and left four people on the ground dead and two others injured.

Preliminary investigation showed that more than 90 miners were in the shaft at the time of the accident, according to the rescue operation headquarters.

Fifty-one miners came out alive after the explosion, said an official with the headquarters surnamed Ma.

More than 30 workers were still missing, Ma said.

However, it was still unclear exactly how many miners were working underground when the accident happened, as the list of miners on duty was destroyed in the blast.

Altogether 500 armed police and other rescuers have been mobilized to save the trapped workers.

Sun Xianguo, 40, was working in the pit when he heard a loud pounding and several subsequent blasts.

"I just ran out of instinct. I had no idea what time it was when I got out of there," said Sun, who was receiving treatment at a local hospital on Thursday afternoon.

The blasts were so powerful that several buildings were flattened near the shaft, with pieces of clothes hanging on top of trees.

"The pipe that sends coal out was cut in half by the blast. A nearby two-story building caved in," said a witness who would not give his name.

The privately-owned coal mine had been ordered to suspend its operations by the work safety authorities after a gas outburst on May 1, 2009 and production after that date was illegal, the Henan provincial administration of work safety said in a statement on Thursday.

The mine covered up that accident last year, which left two people dead, according to China News Service.

The mine's boss Wang Guozheng, who is also a local village chief, ran away after Wednesday's accident, Henan's work safety watchdog said.

Ma Kuiyuan, deputy Party chief of Yichuan, said local police officers had been on an all-out manhunt for him since Wednesday night.

Yichuan's Party chief Wu Ligang and his deputy Jin Chunchao were fired on Thursday. Guo Mingjie, Party chief of Banpo township - the site of the accident - has also been fired along with a deputy township head in charge of work safety affairs.

Henan Governor Guo Gengmao and Zhao Tiechui, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, rushed to the scene to supervise rescue work on Thursday.

The two have asked to ensure oxygen gets to the trapped miners, whose exact location remained unclear.

"Rescuers have determined that the explosion occurred at the entrance to the pit after an underground gas outburst. There is still a chance those trapped underground had survived the explosion," said Guo, who is leading the rescue efforts.

China Central Television had said earlier that underground ventilation had not been seriously affected by the blast.

Hundreds of relatives of the missing miners had gathered around the mine's entrance, some waiting with bags containing dried food. Among them, dozens had been allowed into the mine's compound, desperately watching as rescue work went on.

This was the third major mine accident within a week. At least 153 workers are still trapped underground after a mine flooded on Sunday in Xiangning, Shanxi province.

Meanwhile, in Hoboksar of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, 10 people were trapped underground after a coal mine under construction collapsed on Tuesday.

While the cause of the collapse at the Xinjiang mine was being investigated, the State Administration of Work Safety said the project's management in Shanxi had failed in water detection and information release, which resulted in workers' breaking through to an adjacent abandoned shaft filled with water.

Despite dramatically improved working conditions and consistent government efforts, China's troubled coal industry continues to kill thousands each year. In 2009, 2,631 miners were killed in some 1,600 mine accidents, official figures showed.

Hu Yinan and Xinhua contributed to the story.

China Daily