Chinese mine blast kills 203

RESCUE crews were searching yesterday for coal miners missing nearly 800 feet underground after a gas explosion in China’s northeast killed 203 people in the deadliest mining disaster reported since communist rule began in 1949.

The explosion on Monday afternoon at the Sunjiawan mine left 12 miners trapped underground and injured 22 others with carbon monoxide poisoning, burns and fractures, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

One trapped miner was rescued yesterday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after the blast occurred, Xinhua said.