ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

340 managed to escape blast; China's mining industry is world's deadliest

By The Associated Press | BEIJING - Nearly 100 miners were trapped underground after a gas blast ripped through a coal mine in a northern province, Chinese state media said.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 96 miners were trapped in Sunday's pre-dawn blast at a mine belonging to the Shanxi Jiaomei Group in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province.

It said 436 miners were underground at the time but 340 managed to escape.

An official with the provincial government duty office confirmed the accident but did not have any details. He would give only his surname, Chen.

China's mining industry is the world's deadliest. In 2008, coal mine accidents claimed about 3,200 lives in China.