Mine Blast Kills 70+ in China

Cave-in and flood hit separate mines

(AP) - A coal mine flood in southwestern China trapped 21 miners underground, while a cave-in at another mine today killed at least three workers and left 19 others sealed off, officials said. Rescuers scrambled to reach the miners at the Niupeng coal mine in the county of Pingtang in Guizhou province this morning, according to a staffer from the Pingtang work safety bureau. More»

(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. More»

Passenger train jumps tracks, slams into second train

(NEWSER) - At least 70 people were killed early today when a high-speed passenger train traveling from Beijing jumped the tracks and slammed into another train, AFP reports. Some 250 injured were pulled from the mangled wreckage in the city of Zibo in Shandong province. Officials discounted terrorism and blamed human error for the crash, the worst in China in a decade, but did not elaborate. Two railroad officials were fired shortly after the accident. More»

Missile fuses shipped to Taiwan were second mishap in a year

(NEWSER) - Secretary of State Robert Gates has ordered Pentagon officials to take a new inventory of all US nuclear weapons and related equipment, the Washington Post reports. The count, to be completed in 60 days, is in addition to a specific probe into how 4 missile fuses were shipped accidentally to Taiwan and not noticed for 18 months. More»

Beijing warns of 'disastrous consequences'

(NEWSER) - Beijing unloaded on Washington today, enraged by reports that the US had accidentally sent nuclear missile parts to Taiwan. China demanded a full US investigation, and said the mistake had “disastrous consequences.” China told the US to halt all arms shipments to Taiwan to “avoid endangering the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the improvement in Sino-US relations.” More»