Dozens killed in China mine blasts

The first blast occurred Monday at about 3:00 p.m. (0700 GMT) at the Muchonggou mine in Liupanshui, a city in the Guizhou region, said Liu Changsheng, an official at Guizhou Provincial Mine Administration Bureau.

Liu said about 100 mine workers, firefighters and police officers were searching for the four missing miners Tuesday, but it was unlikely they survived the fire and fumes.

"The hope of life for those trapped in the mine after a gas explosion is very dim," he said.

Eighteen miners were hospitalized with injuries, he said, adding that the cause of the explosion was under investigation.

A gas explosion at the same state-run mine in 2001 killed 162 miners, but the mine has never been shut down and no one was prosecuted, Liu said.

"Some accidents are inevitable for coal mines," he said.

In a separate accident, six miners were missing and feared dead after a gas explosion Monday in Jixi, a city in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xinhua quoted Zou Jingxin, director of the Jixi Coal Industrial Bureau, as saying that rescuers held out little hope of finding the men alive.

Jixi has suffered five fatal mine accidents since 2001, with a total of at least 207 deaths. One explosion last June killed 115 miners.

China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with such fatal explosions, fires and floods reported every week.

More than 5,000 people were killed in coal mine accidents last year, according to the government. Many accidents are blamed on lack of fire and ventilation equipment or disregard of safety rules. Many mines are small and unlicensed.

Overall, industrial and mining-related accidents in China last year killed 14,924 people, the national State Administration of Work Safety said in a report posted on its Web site Monday.

The report did not give comparative figures from previous years.