15 dead, 18 missing after blast at China coal mine

By Mahmut Atanur

BEIJING

Rescuers have recovered 15 bodies from a coal mine hit by an explosion in southwest China and are continuing to search for 18 others who remain missing.

State news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday that more than 400 rescuers worked overnight in Chongqing Municipality to find miners who have been unaccounted for since the explosion occurred shortly before noon Monday.

Luo Qingquan, head of the Yongchuan district government, was quoted as saying that police are investigating “possible misconduct” by the mine's management.

Tao Puzhang -- a 60-year-old who was working on his cropland around 500 meters (547 yards) from the pit at the time of the blast -- told Xinhua, "I heard a bang and felt the ground was shaking under my feet."

Of the 35 miners who had been working underground at the time, two managed to escape.

Chinese mines are among some of the most dangerous in the world due to lax regulations and poor operating procedures.

In recent years, the country has produced more than one-third of the world's annual coal output, but accounted for more than two-thirds of global mining deaths annually, according to the Mining Technology journal.

Last month, a gas explosion at a coal mine in northwest Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region left 18 people dead and two others missing.

In February, a gas leak at a coal mine in northeast Jilin Province left 12 miners dead, while in March 19 people died after a coal mine collapsed in northern Shanxi province while 129 workers were working underground.