At least 37 miners
killed in Sichuan province after explosion at coal mine, the worst Chinese
mining accident this year
A gas explosion at
a coal mine in China's southwest Sichuan province has left as many as 41 people
dead, making it the worst reported mining accident this year.
Authorities said
one more worker was pulled out alive on Friday but five people remained trapped
underground two days after the blast hit the Xiaojiawan mine on late Wednesday.
The incident is
the latest in a string of fatal incidents for an industry with poor safety
standards.
Emergency crews
have pulled out 38 bodies, while three other workers were rescued but later
died of their injuries, Xinhua, the state-controlled news agency, said.
Another 17 are
being treated for serious injuries.
Legal action
Rescue workers
have struggled to access the area where the five miners are trapped, hampered
by hot temperatures and high levels of poisonous carbon monoxide gas, the State
Administration of Work Safety (SWAS) said on its website.
Fixing the
ventilation system risked triggering a second explosion, it said, and the
miners can only be reached by a narrow path.
The city
government could not immediately be reached for comment, but a statement posted
online confirmed that the death toll had risen to 41, up from 19 on Thursday.
It was the worst
accident to hit China's notoriously dangerous coal mining industry since an
explosion last November in a mine in southwestern Yunnan province killed 43
people.
Authorities
ordered that mine shut and fined the company $800,000, while 19 people were
sent to face legal action, SWAS investigators said in a report this week.
They blamed the
accident, estimated to have cost $6m in economic losses, on illegal operation
and inadequate safety policies.
China's mines are
among the world's deadliest due to lax regulation, corruption and inefficiency.
Accidents are common because safety is often neglected by bosses seeking quick
profits.
Trapped miners
The latest
official figures show 1,973 people died in coal mining accidents in China in
2011, a 19 per cent fall on the previous year.
Labour rights
groups, however, say the actual death toll is likely to be much higher, partly
due to under-reporting of accidents as mine bosses seek to limit their economic
losses and avoid punishment.
It is not clear
whether the five remaining trapped miners are still alive, but SWAS said more
than 120 rescuers had been sent to the scene and emergency efforts continue.
Authorities have
detained three mine owners and frozen the mine's accounts while they
investigate the incident and have begun discussing compensation with the
victims' families, the China Daily said.
China is the
world's leading consumer of coal, relying on the fossil fuel for 70 per cent of
its growing energy needs.