A map of China showing the Henan province Image: Ran.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
An early morning coal mine explosion in Beijing, China left 20 miners dead and seventeen trapped inside. The blast occurred at approximately 06:00 am (22:00 UTC) local time in the Henan province, about 430 miles (690 kilometers) south of the capital Beijing.
A spokesperson for the State Administration of Work Safety said that the cause of the blast and the depth of the trapped miners are unknown. He also confirmed that seventeen people were trapped instead of 30 as previously reported.
China's mining industry is one of the most dangerous in the world with thousands of deaths each year. Earlier this year 115 miners were rescued from a flooded coal mine in China. The group survived by eating sawdust, tree bark, paper and coal. 1,600 illegal Chinese coal mines have already been shut down this year in an attempt by regulators to improve safety standards. The number of fatalities in Chinese mines had fallen, but rose suddenly again earlier this year.
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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
