Eight miners die in China's calamity-prone Shanxi

BEIJING, July 9 (Reuters) A gas explosion in a coal mine in northern China has killed at least eight people, the latest in a series of disasters to hit the calamity-prone province of Shanxi, Xinhua news agency said today.

The accident, almost a daily occurrence in China, home to the world's deadliest coal-mining industry, happened yesterday in Hejin city.

In the past three months, explosions of dynamite stored in three neighbouring counties in coal-rich Shanxi have killed 92 people, the China Youth Daily said.

In April, 34 people were killed and buildings flattened in the city of Yuanping when explosives stored by a former coal-mine owner blew up.

Ten villagers were killed in a gold-mining town in a blast at a family dynamite workshop in June.

On July 7, an explosion at a villager's house killed 48 people, many of whom had gathered to help put out a fire, not knowing that explosives were stored inside.

Chinese miners are struggling to meet booming demand for coal, which fuels about 70 percent of the nation's energy consumption.

In the rush for profits, safety regulations are often ignored, production is pushed beyond limits and dangerous mines that have been shut down are reopened illegally.

Last year, 3,300 coal mine blasts, floods and other accidents killed nearly 6,000 people, according to official figures.

''Behind the illegal coal mines, it is the collaboration with government officials,'' one Shanxi shop owner told the China Youth Daily.

''Some officials come to the village to check coal mines and privately stored explosives, but they often turn a blind eye.'' Reuters SHB GC1240