The death toll from Wednesday's coal mine blast in Hebei Province has risen to 74 and 32 remain missing, Tangshan City government said yesterday, while officials in Jilin Province reported yet another mine disaster.
Hebei rescuers escorted 32 miners to the surface yesterday morning, but three died in hospital. Searchers also found the remains of 71 miners, an official told a news briefing.
More than 100 rescuers continued looking for the trapped miners, but their efforts were hampered by carbon monoxide levels 100 times above safety standards and approaching the explosion point.
The blast occurred at 3:30pm Wednesday at the Liuguantun coal mine in Tangshan's Kaiping District, possibly caused by a gas explosion.
Colliery managers reported that 82 miners got out safely shortly after the blast, and 104 were trapped underground, a figure that was later raised to 106. The coal mine, formerly state-owned, was privatized in 2002. It has a designed annual production capacity of 300,000 tons.
The families of the miners killed in the blast will each receive at least 200,000 yuan (US$24,800), the rescue operations headquarters said yesterday.
The owners of the mine have allocated 20 million yuan for the compensation plan.
The amount was fixed in accordance with mine accident regulations implemented in March by the local government.
The figure will be increased by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan depending on the economic conditions of the victims' families, the headquarters said.
The death toll from the Hebei accident ranks fourth among China's coal mine tragedies this year, and ranks third among the accidents in the province after a gas blast at the Nuan'erhe coal mine in Chengde and a cave-in in a gypsum mine in Xingtai, according to a meeting held by the provincial government yesterday.
The provincial, municipal and county-level governments have been ordered to investigate possible dangers at production sites such as coal mines, fireworks plants and explosives plants.
Meanwhile, in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, one miner was rescued after a coal mine flooded and trapped seven workers yesterday.
The miner, who was slightly injured, was lifted to the surface at noon and was receiving hospital treatment last night.
Rescuers spotted the positions of two other miners trapped underground and were trying to save them.
(Xinhua)