19 killed in China coal mine explosion

Nineteen workers were killed and one was listed missing when a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in northwest China, the latest mining disaster in the world’s largest coal producing country.

The explosion took place on Tuesday morning at the small coal mine in Shizuishan city in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Twenty miners were working underground when the mishap took place, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

A mine worker died after he was rescued from the shaft and the bodies of 17 miners have been pulled above the ground. One of the two missing workers was declared brought dead at a hospital, state broadcaster CCTV said.

More than 200 rescuers have been mobilised.

Authorities said the representatives of the company that owns the coal mine have been arrested. Though safety improvements have brought down coal mine deaths in recent years, mining accidents are common in China. Ninteen people were killed in March in a similar accident in Shanxi province.