BEIJING: An explosion in a northeast China coal mine has killed one miner and trapped 18 others in the latest accident to hit the country’s deadly mining sector, state media reported said Sunday.
The explosion occurred Saturday evening in a coalmine near Mudanjiang city in frigid Heilongjiang province, China’s official news agency said, quoting local work safety sources.
At least a dozen miners were working underground at the privately owned mine when the blast occurred. Two people were subsequently rescued, it said.
Rescue operations were continuing. China’s coalmines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety standards often ignored in the quest for profits amid sky-rocketing demand for coal, the source of about 70 percent of the booming country’s energy.
Earlier this month, 105 miners died after an underground gas explosion in a coal mine in northern Shanxi province.