18 killed in China coal mine accident

BIEJING: A coal mine accident that happened on Sunday in central China’s Hunan Province has killed 18 people, local authorities said on Monday morning.
A gas leaking occurred at the Jilinqiao colliery in Huangfengqiao Township, Youxian County, about 11am on Sunday, when a total of 55 workers were working in the mining shaft.
Rescuers have brought 37 miners to safety and sent them for hospital treatment.
Investigators are still testing substances in the poisonous gas. Police have detained those responsible for accident pending investigation.
China is the world’s largest coal producer, and deadly accidents in mines are common.
Seventeen coal miners were killed when a lift used to move workers fell down a shaft in northeastern Heilongjiang province in March.
In December, explosions in two separate coal mines in the Inner Mongolia region and in Heilongjiang killed at least 59 people.
Thirty-three miners were killed in a colliery explosion in October in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing, and in September at least 18 were killed in a mine blast in the northwestern Ningxia region.