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About 50 people with no rescue training rushed to save colleagues trapped in an underground mine in north China but never resurfaced, resulting in a death toll of more than 100, state media said yesterday.
The bodies of at least 105 people have so far been recovered from the Xinyao mine in Hongtong county in coal-rich Shanxi province, which was hit by an explosion on Wednesday.
Police have detained 33 coal mine managers and officials after they delayed reporting the blast until five hours later. Authorities have also suspended the mine's licence and frozen its bank accounts.
Mine owners tried to launch their own rescue operation, which newspapers said probably increased casualties. Miner Yang Yingcai accused the authorities of attempting to cover up the accident. About 50 young miners and security guards "blindly" rushed to the rescue of their trapped colleagues, but never returned, the Beijing News said.
"We never received any rescue training," the newspaper quoted miner Mao Caoliang as saying. "We did not know what to do or what not to do when inside the mine. No one told us what to do when faced with an emergency. We carried oxygen masks with us but did not know how to use them. Many suffocated."
More than 120 rescuers were searching for victims. There were 15 survivors. The Beijing Youth Daily said the mine failed to install a gas detection system. And explosives were stocked in a storeroom underground.
- Reuters
