Rescuers found 26 additional bodies in the shaft of the Xinyao Coal
Mine on Friday morning, bringing the death toll to 105, following a
gas explosion in the mine in Shanxi Province on Wednesday.
The explosion happened at 11:15?PM Wednesday inside the
Xinyao Coal Mine, a village-run coal mining venture in Hongtong
County, Linfen.
Exact figures for the number of staff in the mine at the time of
the accident were still being established. Rescue officials on
Friday said that at least 120 miners, instead of the previously
reported 111, were inside the shaft when the accident took
place.
The latest information on survivors was that 15 workers either
escaped or were rescued later.
The official cause of the accident has yet to be confirmed but
preliminary investigations cite a coal dust explosion as the root
cause of Wednesday's coal mine tragedy, according to Xu Zhancheng,
engineer-in-chief with the Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Coal Mine
Safety.
More than 150 rescuers are participating in the rescue
operation. They have finished the rescue operation at the No. 2
coal seam, and are carrying out rescue efforts at the No. 9 coal
seam. The vertical distance between the two coal seams is 30
meters.
"Xinyao is a low-gas coal mining pit," said Xu, "I think the
explosion first happened at the coal seam No. 9 and later spread,
affecting coal seam No. 2."
There was a delay of about six hours in reporting the explosion
to the local authorities, who were not contacted until 5:00?AM
Thursday. The authorities said they believed the colliery managers
delayed reporting the accident while they tried to begin their own
rescue operations, which meant that crucial time passed and
casualties probably increased as a result.
Xinyao, owned by Ruizhiyuan Mining Co., held full, valid
licenses at the time of the accident that allowed it to produce
210,000 tons of coal annually.
Rescue and recovery work was continuing on Friday morning and
officials were seeking to identify the dead.
The density of carbon monoxide with the No. 9 coal seam is said
to have hindered access, further thwarting the rescue efforts. The
rescue headquarters have worked out compulsory measures for
ventilation to guarantee safety of the rescuers while the rescue
operation continues.
Authorities including Li Yizhong, head of the State
Administration of Work Safety, Zhao Tiechui, chief of the State
Administration of Coal Mine Safety, and Zhang Baoshun, Party
secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party
of China (CPC), on Thursday rushed to the site of the accident.
They called for "all-out efforts" be made to save those trapped
inside the shaft.
People gather to wait for
the news of miners trapped underground.
Rescuers prepare to search
for the victims.
Rescuers prepare to search
for the victims.
A miner receives treatment
after being resued.
A mother holding her child
grieves as she waits for the news of her loved one trapped
underground.
(Xinhua News Agency, December 7, 2007)
