Six other miners survived Saturday evening´s blast at a state-owned coal mine in Hengyang city in Hunan province, China´s State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement on its website. Five of the workers were rescued, while one climbed out of an air shaft, the statement said. [break]
The work safety administration said rescue work was complete as no other miners were working at the time of the explosion.
It did not mention a cause for the blast. Such explosions are usually caused by the ignition of methane and other gases that accumulate in the shaft because of poor ventilation.
China´s coal mines are the most dangerous in the world. Demand for coal induces many producers to sidestep safety regulations, although conditions have improved and a number of small, illegal mines have been shut. Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002.
The one in Hunan — the Xialiuchong Coal Mine — is a legally operating mine with more than 160 miners that has been around for 40 years, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
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