China coal mine gas leak "traps" 12 - Xinhua

BEIJING, Nov 12 (Reuters) A gas leak at a Chinese mine trapped 12 miners underground today, state media reported, the latest in a grim series of colliery accidents.

The gas ''outburst'' in Pingdingshan, one of China's biggest coal cities in the central province of Henan, happened early in the morning when 24 miners were working underground, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Twelve managed to escape, Xinhua quoted sources at the mine as saying.

Accidents at Chinese coal mines killed 3,069 people in the first 10 months of this year, a drop of 19 percent over the same period in 2006, state media has said, but still enough to ranking China as having the world's deadliest coal industry.

On Friday, 35 miners were killed in a coal mine gas leak in the southwest province of Guizhou.

REUTERS PD RK1450