19 miners killed in flood, explosions

Nineteen miners have died after a flood and two gas explosions hit separate coal mines in China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today.

A mine shaft belonging to the Yaojie Coal and Electricity Co. in the western province of Gansu flooded Friday, trapping and killing five workers, Xinhua said. In China’s northeastern province of Liaoning, seven other workers died instantly Friday and two later succumbed to injuries after a gas explosion ripped through the Daming Coal Mine, Xinhua said.

Four others were injured in the accident after leaking gas was ignited as miners tried to reinforce a collapsing tunnel, it said.

A separate blast in the southern province of Yunnan on Thursday took the lives of five miners and injured four, it said.