Two senior Chinese officials – one who led the country’s biggest oil company and the other a deputy party chief in populous Sichuan province – have been convicted of corruption and sentenced to 16 and 13 years in prison respectively.

The death toll in China’s worst mine accident in nearly three years rose to 41 today, with five others still trapped underground.

Evacuees began returning from temporary camps today after Chinese authorities declared the flood threat over from an earthquake-formed lake drained successfully the day before.

Rescuers today continued trying to reach 67 Chinese miners trapped below ground by a collapse at one mine and a flood at another, officials said.