BEIJING – More than 140 miners remained trapped in the tunnels and shafts of a coal mine in central China after an explosion Sunday that killed 25 of their colleagues, the government said.
About 127 workers managed to escape the state-owned mine, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing the State Bureau of Production Safety. About 45 were hospitalized, five with serious injuries, Xinhua said.
The blast rocked Chenjiashan coal mine in Shaanxi province at 7:20 a.m. Sunday, when 293 workers were underground, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The explosion was centered around coal pits five miles from the mine entrance, it said.
Most of the miners who escaped were working close to the entrance, Xinhua said, and many suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. High levels of carbon monoxide was preventing rescuers from reaching parts of the tunnels.
China’s mines are the world’s most dangerous, with thousands of deaths reported every year caused by explosions, fires, cave-ins and flooding often blamed on lax safety rules and lack of required equipment.
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