Thousands are killed in China's mines every year At least 150 miners are feared dead after a huge gas explosion at a coal mine in south-west China. Rescue teams are working with their bare hands to find those trapped underground. Xinhua news agency said 241 miners were underground and that only 81 managed to escape the blast, the exact cause of which has not been established. A mine official said rescuers were using picks, shovels and their bare hands to try to open a route to any possible survivors. We're using human power only, no machines.
China is the biggest producer and consumer of coal in the world.
Safety record A police officer at the scene said the miners were buried under tonnes of earth at the coal face. An official at the main hospital in the city said 22 injured miners were being treated there. The country's mines have an appalling safety record with nearly 10,000 mining deaths reported yearly over the past decade. Thousands more are maimed each year in underground accidents. Earlier this week, the official China coal newspaper reported that since the middle of July there had been 20 coal mining accidents in the province, which had left 136 people dead.