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44 Dead, 21 Trapped in China Mine Blast

By the Associated Press

Posted Feb 21, 2009 8:03 PM CST

(AP) – At least 44 miners were killed and 21 remained trapped underground after a gas blast ripped through a coal mine in northern China. The official Xinhua News Agency said the pre-dawn blast occurred while 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province.

The Shanxi Jiaomei Group is China's largest producer of coking coal, with 28 mines. Although China has worked to cut mine accidents by closing more than a 1,000 small, dangerous mines last year, the country's mining industry is still the world's deadliest. About 3,200 workers died in accidents last year.

In this Nov. 30, 2007 file photo, miners shovel coal at a mine in Xiahuayuan county, north China's Hebei province.
In this Nov. 30, 2007 file photo, miners shovel coal at a mine in Xiahuayuan county, north China's Hebei province.   (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)
A rescuer work at the entrance to Guaziyan coal mine in Lianyuan, south China's Hunan province, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008.
A rescuer work at the entrance to Guaziyan coal mine in Lianyuan, south China's Hunan province, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008.   (AP Photo)
Rescuers work at the entrance to Guaziyan coal mine in Lianyuan, south China's Hunan province, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008.
Rescuers work at the entrance to Guaziyan coal mine in Lianyuan, south China's Hunan province, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
Doctor-Zaius
Feb 22, 2009 12:47 AM CST
This is the world the Republicans would bring you. Long, hard hours working your life away for slave wages in unsafe conditions.

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