A trapped miner is carried out by his fellow workers in Qitaihe City
of Heilongjiang Province. Altogether 221 miners were working underground when a
blast went off in Dongfeng Coal Mine on November 27.-Xinhua
Local government officials comfort a
woman whose husband was killed in a mine explosion in Heilongjiang Province on
Sunday. The blast left 146 workers dead, and five remain missing. ¡ª
Xinhua
The death toll in Sunday's coal mine disaster has risen to 138 with 11 still
missing. More than 70 trapped miners have been rescued from the mine in Qitaihe,
northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Shi Guicheng, deputy president of the General Hospital of Qimei Group, told
Xinhua that 47 of the rescued miners were suffering from gas poisoning.
"Many of the injured are recovering after treatment in a hyperbaric oxygen
chamber," said Shi, who added some miners were also suffering from post
traumatic stress syndrome.
Only one miner suffered head injuries and he was also treated for gas
poisoning, said Shi.
Shi said four more medical specialists are scheduled to join the three
medical experts at the hospital who are treating the injured miners.
Altogether 221 miners were working underground when the blast occurred at
9:40 p.m. Sunday at Dongfeng Coal Mine run by the Qitaihe branch of the Longmei
Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. in Heilongjiang Province.
