China mine blast death toll rises

The death toll in China’s worst reported mine disaster in decades rose today to 213, the government said, as families laid their loved ones to rest.

The gas blast happened on Monday 790 feet underground at the state-run Sunjiawan mine in northeast China’s Liaoning province.

Among the dead was 49-year-old Zhang Weiguo, who had started working in the Sunjiawan mine as a teenager more than 30 years ago, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Zhang was cremated this morning at a ceremony attended by relatives, city government and local mining officials, Xinhua said.

No other details about Zhang or the other victims were immediately available.

Meanwhile, rescuers continued to search for two missing miners still trapped underground, five days after the blast.

China has kept a tight lid on the disaster, barring reporters from the mine site and the hospital where 29 injured were being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, burns and fractures.

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eijing announced yesterday that the head of the country’s work safety administration would head an investigation into the disaster.

Workers said they felt a sudden, strong tremor – “like an earthquake” - shake the mine 10 minutes before the blast. Moments later, gas detectors lost their signals and one of the mine’s main pits filled with smoke.

Hollows in the ground from decades of mining cause layers of rock to shift - creating underground quakes.

China mines are the world’s deadliest, with fatalities accounting for 80% of the worldwide industry total.

Last year, 6,027 Chinese mine workers were killed by in floods, fires and explosions – an average of about 16 deaths a day.