Death toll from China colliery explosion rises to 87
- Source: Global Times
- [09:13 November 22 2009]
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Death toll from the deadly coal mine blast in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has risen to 87, with another 21 still trapped, as of 7 am Sunday, said local authorities.
The blast happened at around 2:30 am Saturday at the Xinxing Coal Mine under the state-owned Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group's subsidiary in Hegang City. A total of 528 miners were working underground, among whom 420 have escaped the accident, said the company.
Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang visited the hospital Saturday afternoon, and urged medical workers to do their utmost to save the injured miners.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have also made instructions on the rescue work.
Wang Xingang, one of the injured miners in the hospital, had injuries on the head.
The 27-year-old electrician said he was lashed out by a strong blast when he was entering the mine.
"I passed out for a while. I found I was shrouded by heavy smoke, when I regained consciousness. I groped my way out in the dark, and called for help," he said.
Wang Chaojun, Wang Xingang's father, a 50-year-old carpenter working in the mine for 33 years told Xinhua that the mine had never reported any accidents before.
Yang Chunfeng, head nurse in the surgery department of the hospital, said she had worked for more than 12 hours to rescue the miners.
The mine is located over 400 km east of the provincial capital of Harbin.
The Hegang subsidiary of Longmei is a state-owned mining company with an annual coal output of 12 million tonnes. Its mining area has a verified coal reserve of 3 billion tonnes.
Agencies
