Nine dead in China mine accident
Posted: 27 November 2009 1414 hrs

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BEIJING: A gas explosion in a southwestern China coal mine killed nine people, state media said Friday, the latest deadly accident to strike the country's notoriously dangerous mining sector.

Search efforts were underway for a missing miner, Xinhua news agency said, following the accident late Thursday at the Zhenxing coal mine in Guizhou province.

Last Saturday, 108 miners were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China, reigniting concerns about safety standards in the nation's coal mines.

China's coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal - the source of about 70 per cent of China's energy.

- AFP/yb