In this Saturday, May 11, 2013 photo, rescuers prepare to enter the Dashan Coal Mine for rescue operation in Pingba county in southwest China's Guizhou province. Authorities say 40 miners have died in two separate coal mine explosions in southwestern China. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT
May 12, 2013 - 11:00 PM
BEIJING, China - Authorities say an explosion that killed 28 coal miners in southwest China was caused by a lack of ventilation that caused deadly gases to accumulate.
A state media report Monday points to continuing problems with supervision in China's mining industry, the world's deadliest. The blast Saturday afternoon at Sichuan province's Yaozigou mine came less than 24 hours after an explosion in another coal mine in neighbouring Guizhou province killed 12 people.
The official China News Service cited officials as saying that work at Yaozigou was supposed to have been suspended while the mine underwent a technical upgrade that made it temporarily impossible to disperse flammable gases.
A total of 108 miners were working underground at the time of the deadly blast. Eighteen were reported injured, eight of them seriously.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013