Eleven dead, 25 trapped in explosion at iron-ore mine in NE China

State broadcaster says 25 people are still trapped in the mine

BEIJING: Eleven people were killed and nine injured Tuesday in an explosion at an iron-ore mine in northeast China's Liaoning province, state media reported.

Twenty-five people are trapped in the mine run by China National Coal Group Co, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Some of the trapped victims were able to contact people outside, the report said.

The injured have been rushed to hospital and the municipal government of Benxi, where the accident occurred, has dispatched a rescue team, CCTV said.

The incident took place while drilling a mining shaft, the broadcaster said.



Deadly mining accidents are common in China due to lack of safety precautions.

A gas leak killed at least 18 people working in a coal mine in central Hunan province in May last year.

Seventeen other coal miners were killed when a lift used to move workers fell down a shaft in northeastern Heilongjiang province in March 2017.

In December 2016, explosions in two separate coal mines in the Inner Mongolia region and in Heilongjiang killed at least 59 people.

Also in 2016, 33 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.