Chinese people appear to be expendable :-(
Four Chinese coal mine accidents kill 40, trap 11 underground
Four separate coal mining accidents, which killed at least 40 people in China over the weekend, again called attention to one of the world's worst mining safety records,
Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Monday , 19 Jul 2010
RENO, NV -
mineweb.com
Accidents in four mines in China over the weekend have killed at least 40 people and left 11 miners trapped underground in a flooded shaft early Monday morning.
Police in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province have detained Guo Yungang, the owner of the Xianangou coal mine at Sangshuping Township of Hancheng City where 28 miners were killed Saturday night.
Gao Xiaoping, the director of the Hancheng city press office, told China Daily Sunday, "The electrical supply cable caught fire and the miners were soon overcome by the fire and the release of toxic gases.
The victims were 15 people from Hubei Province, 10 people from Shaanxi Province, two victims from Shandong Province, and one from Hebei Province.
In central China's Henan Province, eight coal miners died when a fire engulfed a mine operated by the Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group on Saturday morning.
On Sunday two men were killed in a blast in a coal mine in Hunan Province, also in Central China.
Meanwhile, 16 workers were trapped in a flooded coal shaft when water gushed into the mine in Junta County in Gansu Province Saturday morning.
Three men were rescued, but two bodies were found and 11 men remain trapped as of late Sunday night. State news media Xinhua said more than 100 rescuers were pumping water out of the shaft of the mine now under construction in Jinta.
China gets more than two-thirds of its electricity from coal. The nation's immense coal mining sector is considered one of the most dangerous in the world.
Official statistics say 2,631 coal miners died in 1,616 mine accidents in China last year, a decline of 18% from 2008.
Last month, 47 coal miners were killed at a privately owned mine in Henan's Pingdingshan city, when gunpowder exploded. In March a flood in the Wangjialang coal mine project in Shanxi Province left 153 workers trapped undergrounded. A total of 115 miners were recovered alive |
