The death toll has risen to six and 13 others are still trapped underground after a sudden colliery coal and gas eruption in east China's Jiangxi Province on Saturday night, said rescuers on Sunday afternoon.

 

The accident occurred at 11:45 p.m. on Saturday in Jianxin Colliery based in Shangtang Township of Fengcheng City when 283 miners were working underground.

 

Twenty-one of them, 14 gas drainage workers and seven electricians, were at the tunneling working surface when the outburst took place.

 

As of 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, 264 people, including two injured, had escaped, with one reported dead and 18 others trapped in the pit.

 

"The rescuers had recovered six bodies by 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. If everything goes on smoothly, rescuers will be able to clear all the coal fragments out of the tunnels and reach the trapped miners Sunday night," rescuers said.

 

Rescuers said the eruption caused about 360 tons of coal fragments to fill up a 30-meter-long tunnel.

 

The rescuers began transporting coal out of the pit at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday and have cleaned up a 10-meter-section of the tunnel.

 

The Jianxin Coal Mine, established in 1958 and affiliated to Jiangxi Coal Group Co., is a large state-owned mine with an annual output of more than 80,000 tons.

 

The mine, troubled by high gas density, had experienced more than 180 gas outburst accidents since the 1970s. The last two accidents in November 2003 and August 2006 claimed 49 and five lives respectively.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2007)