China mine accident kills over 200

A gas explosion in a coal mine in China's northeastern rust-belt province of Liaoning killed at least 203 workers in the worst recorded disaster in 63 years to hit the world's most dangerous mining industry.

The explosion, on Monday afternoon at the mine in Fuxin city, injured 28 miners and 13 were still trapped, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday. A rescue team of more than 180 people was working to free trapped workers.

The blast occurred 242 metres below ground at the Sunjiawan colliery of the state-owned Fuxin Coal Industry Group, Xinhua said.

Dozens of miners wearing hard hats, dusty uniforms and long faces gathered at the entrance to the mine shaft, waiting for news of missing colleagues.

"We have never seen such a big accident before," said an official at Fuxin's Coal Mine Safety Supervision Bureau.

"The rescue operations are still going on and the coal mine is still verifying the conditions of workers," he told Reuters. "We still don't know the real cause of the accident because the formal investigation has yet to start."