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10 September, 2005
Seven separate coal mine disasters in China over the past month have claimed 102 lives. On 3 August, 13 miners suffocated after a wooden support caught fire with flames spreading throughout shafts rapidly. The fire occurred at the illegal Taodingshan mine, Handan county, Hebei province. A day earlier on 2 August, a gas leak caused an explosion at the privately-run legal mine of Xingfa in Wenshu township, Henan province,killing 26. Managers of the mine fled the scene after the deadly accident.On 27 July, 14 miners perished due to a gas blast and ventilation shaft collapse at the village-run Fengxiangpo coal mine, Kaiyang county, Guizhou province. On 23 July, four miners were poisoned and died underground by gas at a mine in Tanghou village, Shaanxi province. And in the same province on 19 July at the Jinsuo mine near Tongchaun, 26 coal miners were killed when a gas explosion occurred. On 17 July, four miners were trapped by flooding while three escaped at the small-scale Xigou mine in Xin’an county, Henan province. On 14 July, a faulty explosives detonation caused collapse of an underground cave full of water, drowning 16 miners. That happened at the Fusheng mine near Xingning city, Guangdong province. Authorities in China on 21 July closed a total of 5,290 mines in which owners had failed to apply for safety permits.