After three days of searching, rescuers at a collapsed coal mine in northeast China still couldn’t agree on the number of miners missing – further underlining the government’s lack of success in improving safety in the disaster-plagued industry.

Rescuers in north-east China worked in sub-freezing temperatures today to search for three coal miners who were trapped after an explosion killed 146 others in a disaster that has highlighted the industry’s shortcomings despite repeated safety crackdowns.

Anxious relatives of missing miners demanded to be allowed into a coal mine today after an explosion killed at least 134 people and left rescuers searching for 15 others, adding to a soaring death toll in China’s mines despite a national safety crackdown.

Coal dust caught fire in a mine in northeast China, sparking an explosion that killed at least 68 people and left 79 missing, the government said today, as the country’s leadership called for tighter work safety measures.