42 dead,66 trapped in China mine blast

A total of 528 people were working in the Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province at the time of the 2.30 am explosion,the State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement. It said 389 escaped after the blast.

China Central Television reported that 42 were dead,31 rescued and the others trapped about a third of a mile 500 meters underground. The report said the explosion was caused by a gas buildup.

Television footage showed smoke billowing out of the mine,with a collapsed building nearby.

The report said power,ventilation and communication links in the mine were cut by the explosion,hampering rescue efforts. A man at the mine said an unknown number of people were injured.

The mine is located near the border with Russia,about 400 km northeast of the provincial capital,Harbin.

It is run by one of Chinas top 520 state-owned enterprises,according to the Web site of its owner,the Hegang branch of the Heilongjiang Longmei Holding Mining Group. It says the Hegang branch has more than 88,000 employees.

China depends heavily on coal to generate about three-quarters of its electricity needs.

The government has been cracking down on unregulated mining operations,which account for almost 80 percent of the countrys 16,000 mines.

The closure of about 1,000 dangerous small mines last year helped to cut in half the average number of miners killed,to about six a day,in the first six months of this year,the government has said.

Major gas explosions in coal mines remain a problem,though the number of accidents and deaths have gradually declined year by year,the chief of the State Administration of Work Safety,Luo Lin,told a national conference in September.

In the first nine months of this year,Chinas coal mines had 11 major accidents with 303 deaths,with gas explosions the leading cause,according to the central government.