43 trapped after Chinese colliery explosion
Friday, 13 Jun 2008 10:27
Forty-three coal miners trapped after explosion in northern China
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Forty-three coal miners have been trapped after an explosion in northern China.
A blast caused by "explosives" at the bottom of a mine shaft in lulian in Shanxi province has left the workers trapped underground, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Around 15 mine workers are thought to have escaped the explosion at the Anxin Coal Mining Corp site.
No further details have yet been released.
The incident is the second of its kind in China in the last two days, after seven people were trapped following a gas explosion in the central Hubei province.
The miners had been some 700 metres underground when the blast occurred.
Some 3,786 Chinese coal miners died in accidents in 2007, the Reuters news agency reports.