A coal mine explosion killed eight workers and injured six others in Hunan Province yesterday, according to sources from the provincial coal mine safety supervision administration in Changsha.
The explosion occurred about 1pm at the Antangshan mine, located in Tianxin Township of Jiahe County. Rescue work was completed at 5:30pm while the injured were rushed to hospital, where they were in a stable condition, the sources said.
Elsewhere, rescuers yesterday found the remains of five more miners killed in last Saturday's coal mine gas blast in Shuozhou, northern Shanxi Province, bringing the death toll in the tragedy to 70.
Information from the headquarters in charge of the rescue operation for the March 19 mine blast said that the five bodies were discovered beneath the shaft of the Xishui colliery, where the gas explosion occurred at 12:15pm last Saturday and tore through the neighboring Kangjiayao coal mine, trapping 71 miners.
By press time, one more miner was still missing beneath the Kangjiayao mine, a legal coal producing entity.
Meanwhile, five people responsible for another coal mine gas blast last week, which killed 19 people in southwestern Chongqing Municipality, have been detained, local sources said.
(Xinhua)