China coal mine gas leak kills 32

Beijing, Nov 9: Twenty-nine miners were killed in a coal mine gas leak in southwest China's Guizhou Province and six others are missing, state media reported today.

The gas leak at Qunli Coal Mine in Nayong County occurred yesterday afternoon when 86 miners were working in the shaft, the official News Agency quoted rescuers as saying. The rescuers saved 52 miners, the report added.

''The other six miners have slim chances of survival, but the search will continue,'' a rescuer was quoted as saying. The cause of the gas leak was not immediately known.

Landlocked Guizhou province, one of China's poorest regions, has since late August reported five coal mine gas leaks and blasts, Xinhua quoted the local work safety agency as saying.

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

Reuters>