Rescue workers have found bodies of 141 miners killed in last week's fatal gas explosion at Daping coal mine in central China's Henan Province, according to the State Administration of Work Safety Thursday.
So far 129 bodies have been moved to the ground.
At zero hour on Thursday, the rescue headquarters dispatched 110 rescuers down the shaft. By 7 AM, the rescue workers let out gas in 360 m of the passage connecting to the downhill area of the Rock No.21 and are still going all out to reach the still missing miners.
A deadly gas explosion occurred at the coal mine of Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group, or Zhengmei, in Xinmi City at 10:10 PM last Wednesday when 446 miners were working underground, and only 298 managed to escape.
Zhengmei is a listed company based near Zhengzhou, the provincial capital. The accident was the most serious coal accident this year.
Rescuers are still searching for the other 7 missing miners, whose survival chances are slim.
(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2004)
