China coal mine blast: 27 killed, 7 trapped

Xiaoyi, Shanxi, June 14: Twenty-seven miners were killed and seven were trapped after a blast tore through a coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province.

The blast took place in the facility of the Anxin Coal Mining Co. Ltd. in Xiaoyi City on Friday, Xinhua reported. Around 58 miners were working underground when the incident occurred. Rescuers lifted nine of them and 15 managed to escape themselves. A large number of rescuers have been pressed into service to search the trapped miners. The coal company reported to local government authorities that the blasting of explosives under the main shaft caused the incident. Shanxi's Communist Party chief Zhang Baoshun and Governor Meng Xuenong have ordered all-out efforts to rescue the trapped.

ANI