Mine blast death toll rises to 87

Rescuers worked in frigid cold to reach 21 miners trapped underground today as the death toll from a huge gas explosion in a northern Chinese mine jumped to 87 - the deadliest blast to hit the beleaguered industry in nearly two years.

The pre-dawn blast yesterday at the state-run Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province near the border with Russia was the latest to hit China’s mining industry – the world’s deadliest.