Seven dead in China mine accident

BEIJING: Seven people have been killed in a gas accident in a coal mine in southwest China, state media said Wednesday — the latest fatal incident to strike the nation’s notoriously dangerous collieries.

The accident took place late Tuesday in Weixin county in Yunnan province, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a county government spokesman as saying.

13 miners managed to escape, the spokesman said, adding that all workers had been accounted for.

The mine’s managers have been taken into police custody, and an investigation into the cause of the accident was ongoing, the report said.

Last year, 2,433 people died in coal mine accidents in China, according to official statistics, or a rate of more than six workers per day.

Labour rights groups, however, say the actual death toll is likely much higher than official data indicate, partly due to under-reporting of accidents as mine bosses seek to limit their economic losses and avoid punishment.

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