Chinese Coal Mine Explosion Kills 21

Mineweb reported that according to Chinese news agencies, 21 miners were killed in a coal mine explosion “at the Changji Hui autonomous prefecture of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in China’s Xinjiang Province.”

Safety problems resulted in the mine being shut down in June; the explosion came about after it was illegally restarted before the issues were fixed.

As quoted in the market news:

Thirty-four miners were working underground at the Baiyanggou mine at the time of the explosion.  Twelve miners managed to escape immediately after the explosion, but 22 were trapped underground. Only one of the trapped miners survived the explosion.

Last year 1,384 people died in coal mining accidents, down from 1,973 in 2011, according to official Chinese figures, although some contend the actual figure is significantly higher

Click here to read the full Mineweb report.