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Nearly 100 dead or missing in mine disasters
Forty-one miners died and 57 others are missing after two separate disasters, a government agency said. The bulk of the casualties came when a gas explosion ripped through a mine in China's northwest Xinjiang region, killing at least 40 and leaving 43 unaccounted for, the State Administration for Work Safety said on Monday.
Map of China locating recent coal mine disasters. Forty-one miners died and 57 others are missing after two separate disasters, a government agency said.[AFP] A total of 87 people were working in the Shenlong Coal Mine, in Xinjiang's Fukang city, when the blast hit the shaft at 4:00 am (2000 GMT) Monday. Only four miners have been found alive. "At 8:00 am, rescuers entered the mine to find the missing miners. There are 20 rescuers in the shaft right now, but the situation is unclear. We don't know what the situation is like down there," a man surnamed Hu at the mine's office told AFP. "There are eight to nine ambulances above ground waiting." The chances of the missing miners surviving appear slim. Survival rates in gas explosions are generally low due to the short time it takes for gas inhalation to kill a person, especially with high gas density. As the cause of the blast was under investigation, the government work safety agency also revealed that one miner died and 14 others were feared dead in a separate coal mine accident in southern China's Jiangxi province. The accident happened on July 7 when the Yongsheng coal mine near Chishan township unexpectedly flooded, the State Administration of Work Safety said. The government has in the past ordered illegal or unsafe mines to shut and punished mine owners or local officials. Last month, China said it plans to limit the time coal miners have to spend at work underground to six hours a day in a bid to halt the trend of soaring fatalities. Coal miners are currently made to work eight hours a day on average.
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