China coal mine blast kills 18
2009-04-18 08:22
Shanghai - At least 18 people were
killed in a blast at a three-storey detonator and dynamite
warehouse for a coal mine in southern China, the official
Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
Police are searching for three shareholders of the mine in
Hunan Province's Yongxing County in connection with Friday's
explosion.
The cause of the blast is still under investigation,
Xinhua quoted the head of the county government as saying.
China's mining industry is the world's most dangerous.
Gas
blasts, flooding and other accidents killed 3 786 coal miners
in 2007, as companies often flouted safety regulations in the
rush to feed the booming economy, although the industry's death
toll fell to 2 690 in the first 10 months of 2008 after
thousands of small, unsafe mines were closed.