Twenty-four people were confirmed dead in a colliery gas blast
Sunday in north China's coal-rich province of Shanxi, the local government said on
Monday.
Rescuers had found all the bodies and?completed?rescue
work Monday morning, said a spokesman with the provincial workplace
safety administration.
He said the accident occurred at around 6:40 PM at Luweitan
Colliery in Yaodu district in the city of Linfen.
Investigators said a power failure earlier Sunday afternoon had
caused a breakdown of the pit's ventilation system.
Luweitan colliery is designed to produce 150,000 tons a year but
its production permit and safety license have both expired. Police
have detained the mine owner but its general manager has
disappeared.
The past weekend has been tragic with two other? mine
disasters killing at least 53 people.
Twenty-one miners were confirmed dead and six others missing in
a coal mine gas blast Saturday in Jixi of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. In another tragedy 32
miners were killed and 28 injured in a colliery gas explosion in
Fuyuan of southwest China's Yunnan Province.
(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2006)