Whether the missing workers are alive or not is unknown and efforts are still being made to rescue them, according to a source from the Doulishan township government.

Related departments are looking into the accident and trying to confirm the cause of the gas explosion, according to the source.

A total of 23 miners were working at the site when the explosion occurred, at about 1:30 pm, and only two escaped the disaster unharmed.

All coal mines in Lianyuan have been ordered to stop production and carry out overall inspections of safety measures and devices, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency.

Meanwhile, departments in charge of coal mine safety in Hunan have been urged to take action to stop any further serious accidents, the report said.

The Doulishan Coal Mine is not the only one to have been hit by tragedy this year.

High-temperatures and poisonous gas killed 11 miners in a coal mine in Fukang in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Thursday.

In the first week of February, five accidents took place in coal mines across the country, killing 60 people, according to the Coal Information Network of China.

China is a huge coal consumer and according to statistics, coal accounts for 75 percent of the energy it uses.

Accidents have long haunted coal mines in China. Statistics from the Coal Information Network of China show that 4,043 miners were killed in the first eight months of last year.

The government has taken measures to make coal mines safer. More than 8,900 unsafe small mines were closed last year and rules on inspecting and supervising safety conditions in coal mines took effect on December 1 last year.

(China Daily 02/24/2001)