Sun, February 22, 2009
TAIYUAN, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Eleven miners were confirmed dead after a coal mine blast, which still trapped 96 others underground, in north China's Shanxi Province on Sunday.
The accident occurred at about 2: 00 a.m. Sunday at the Tunlan Coal Mine of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in Gujiao City near Taiyuan, the provincial capital, when 436 miners were working underground.
A total of 340 miners managed to get out after the blast. Among them, 114 were taken into hospital, where the 11 workers failed emergency rescue and 24 others are still in critical condition.
The rest 226 survivors are receiving medical checks at the accident site.
Zhang Baoshun, the provincial Communist Party committee chief, who is leading the rescue work at the accident site, urged to use scientific methods in rescue to prevent secondary disasters.
So far, 57 rescuers from seven professional rescue teams have arrived at the mine to search for the trapped workers, said Zhang.
More than 40 ambulances have been called to the accident site.
All of the 68 hyperbaric oxygenc chambers in hospitals in Taiyuan are open for admitting the injured miners.
The Shanxi Coking Coal Group is one of China's largest coking coal producers. The Tunlan Coal Mine has an annual production capacity of 5 million tonnes.
