Rescue workers have found bodies of 141 miners killed in last
week's fatal gas explosion at Daping coal mine in central China's
Henan
Province, according to the State Administration of Work Safety
Thursday.
So far 129 bodies have been moved to the ground.
At zero hour on Thursday, the rescue headquarters dispatched 110
rescuers down the shaft. By 7 AM, the rescue workers let out gas in
360 m of the passage connecting to the downhill area of the Rock
No.21 and are still going all out to reach the still missing
miners.
A deadly gas explosion occurred at the coal mine of Zhengzhou Coal
Industry Group, or Zhengmei, in Xinmi City at 10:10 PM last
Wednesday when 446 miners were working underground, and only 298
managed to escape.
Zhengmei is a listed company based near Zhengzhou, the provincial
capital. The accident was the most serious coal accident this
year.
Rescuers are still searching for the other 7 missing miners, whose
survival chances are slim.
(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2004)