Beijing: A gas explosion at a coal mine in central China has killed 29 workers, Chinese authorities said on Sunday.
Six other miners survived Saturday evening's blast at a state-owned coal mine in Hengyang city in Hunan province, China's State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement on its website. Five of the workers were rescued, while one climbed out of an air shaft, the statement said.
The work safety administration said rescue work was complete as no other miners were working at the time of the explosion.
It did not mention a cause for the blast. Such explosions are usually caused by the ignition of methane and other gases that accumulate in the shaft because of poor ventilation.
China's coal mines are the most dangerous in the world. Demand for coal induces many producers to sidestep safety regulations, although conditions have improved and a number of small, illegal mines have been shut. Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002.
The one in Hunan, the Xialiuchong Coal Mine is a legally operating mine with more than 160 miners that has been around for 40 years, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
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