21 Miners Killed As Roof Collapses In Coal Mine In China

The death toll in the coal mine roof collapse in China's Shaanxi Province has risen to 21 as rescuers found dead bodies of the other two trapped miners on Sunday, authorities said.

The accident happened around 4:30 p.m. local time on Saturday at the Lijiagou coal mine of the Baiji Mining Co., Ltd. in the city of Shenmu, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

At that time, 87 people were working underground. Sixty-six of them were lifted to safety after the accident.

The search for the last two trapped miners continued. An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

Deadly mining accidents are common in China, where the industry has a poor safety record despite efforts to improve coal production conditions and crack down on illegal mines.

In December last year, seven miners were killed and three others injured in an accident at a coal mine in China's southwest.

In October, 21 miners died in eastern Shandong province after the pressure inside a mine caused rocks to fracture and break, blocking the tunnel and trapping workers. Only one miner was rescued alive.

According to China's National Coal Mine Safety Administration, the country saw 375 coal mining related deaths in 2017, down 28.7 per cent year-on-year.

But despite improvements, "the situation of coal mine safety production is still grim," the bureau said in a statement following a coal mine safety conference last January.

In a recent incident, two coal miners were killed after an illegal coal mine collapsed in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills and the rescue operations are still going on for another 15 miners that have been trapped 370-feet deep in Lumthari village since December 13.

(With Inputs from Agencies)