China mine toll reaches 87

• Last Updated: November 22. 2009 10:49AM UAE / November 22. 2009 6:49AM GMT

The death toll from China’s latest coal mine disaster reached 87 as hopes dimmed today that more survivors would be found a day after a gas blast at a colliery in the country’s icy far north-east.

Xinhua news agency reported 528 workers were in the mine, at Hegang in Heilongjiang province, at the time of the blast, and 420 had been rescued so far.

A total of 21 miners remained trapped or unaccounted for, Zhang Jinguang, a spokesman for the mine company, told reporters, who were taken by officials to see 20 or so rescue workers descending down a tunnel still belching smoke.

Zhang Fucheng, an official in charge of rescue efforts, told Chinese television that efforts were being impeded by dense gas and collapsed tunnels. Temperatures were near freezing.

This was the latest accident to hit the world’s deadliest major coal mining industry. The blast was so violent it shook the surrounding area and nearby buildings partly collapsed.

Some of the survivors were badly injured.

“When I saw my husband, this mess of blood and flesh, I didn’t recognise him at first,” said Huang Guizhen, the wife of injured miner Qu Zhongliang, a Heilongjiang province news website reported. “Then the doctor told me it was my husband and I burst into tears.”

Compared to other manual jobs, Chinese coal miners can earn relatively high wages, tempting workers and farmers into rickety and poorly ventilated shafts.

Safety staff knew gas in the mine had reached dangerous levels and were rushing to clear it when the blast erupted 500 metres below ground, the website report also said.

The Xinxing mine in Hegang lies near China’s border with Russia and produced over a million tonnes of coal in the first 10 months of this year, the report said. It is owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group, making it larger than most operations where colliery accidents occur.

In the first half of this year, 1,175 people died in officially recorded coal mine accidents across China, a fall of 18.4 per cent compared to the same time last year, according to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

Nor have Hegang’s coal mines had a spotless record.

Earlier state media reports showed that in three accidents – one in 2002 and two last year – a total of 88 miners died.

* Reuters