Twenty five miners were killed in three different coal mine mishaps in China during the last few hours and fate of 153 miner trapped in flood waters since Sunday is still unknown as energy hungry China experienced a spate of mine accidents during the past few days. Nineteen miners were killed in central China mine explosion last night at an illegal coal mine in Luoyang City in Henan Province,while about 24 people were believed trapped underground. About 90 miners were working under the ground when a gas explosion occurred at 7:20 pm in a coal pit privately owned by Guomin Mining Co. The blast killed eight miners underground and four on the surface. Another two persons were killed in the collapse of structures on the ground as a result of the explosion. State owned Xinhua news agency quoted officials as saying that 50 miners were rescued,leaving about 32 still trapped underground. The mine is being illegally run and its owner Wang Guozheng,has disappeared. Just as rescuers made frantic efforts to save the trapped miners,yet another mine accident took place this time in northwest China's Shaanxi Province were nine miners were killed in a fire accident,according to the provincial government today. Twenty-seven miners were working underground when the fire occurred at around 7 pm yesterday in the Quanzigou Coal Mine in Longmen Township,Hancheng City. Among them,17 were brought out safely a government official said. One injured miner has been rushed to hospital. Meanwhile news from Nanning in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region said four people died of carbon monoxide poisoning after self-made explosives detonated in an illegal mine shaft in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Thursday. One rescuer was poisoned by the gas and had been taken to hospital,Guangxi Public Security Department said in a statement. The blast occurred at 10:30 am inside the mine shaft at Pinggui County,Hezhou City,Xinhua reported. Five people were trapped underground after a coal mine was flooded Thursday afternoon in northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province,the provincial coal mine work safety authorities said Friday morning. The accident happened at around 5 pm yesterday at Longpeng Coal Mine in Qitaihe City,when 13 miners were working underground. Eight of them escaped unharmed,and the remaining five are still trapped underground,Xinhua reported. The spate of mine accidents occurred yesterday even as rescuers continue drill out water from Wangjialing Coal Mine,in north China's Shanxi Province where 153 miners were trapped in flood waters on Sunday last. About 3,000 rescuers are racing the clock to pump water and reach the trapped miners. Rescuers have said the trapped miners were working in nine different platforms when the flood happened,and some of the platforms were above the water level,making it possible that some workers could have survived. But no sign of life has been found so far. The water level underground had dropped by 95 cm and a total of 44,200 cubic meters of water had been pumped from the shaft by 6 pm yesterday,said Liu Dezheng,a spokesman of the rescue headquarters and deputy director of the General Office with the Shanxi Provincial Work Safety Committee,at a news conference. Altogether 13 pumps were pumping up to 1,485 cubic meters of water per hour,he said. Rescuers were installing more pumps to raise the capacity to 2,000 cubic meters per hour,he said. "Complicated geological conditions and too much floodwater underground have made the pumping difficult. In addition,rescuers have been very tired after working for more than 100 hours," he said.
