Dozens Of Chinese Miners Killed In Explosion

A gas explosion in a coal mine in Shanxi province has killed at least 91 miners, a provincial official said today.

The explosion occurred last Wednesday, and 91 bodies have been recovered, government spokesman Ni Yuan said. It was not known how many miners were in the mine, and a search for other victims was continuing, he said.

China’s state-run national news media did not report about the disaster, which was in a remote area. Shanxi’s main newspaper reported it days after it occurred - a practice that is not unusual in China.

The blast occurred at the Dongcun mine in Guojiayao County near Datong, one of China’s main coal mining regions in the north-central part of the country. Officials said the mine did not belong to the system of large state-owned coal mines. Shanxi also has many locally owned and illegal mines.