介绍:
The death toll of a coal mine fire in northeast China's Liaoning Province has now risen to 26.
It comes after two workers died in hospital today.
This morning's fire also inhured 50 other workers.
CRI's Wang Mengzhen has more.
The state-owned Fuxin Coal Corporation says the rescue effort is complete and all of the injured workers have been sent to hospital.
Eight workers are now in intensive care with most of the injured suffering burns and respiratory damage.
The names of the decreased haven't been disclosed as the authorities have yet to identify all of the bodies.
About one hour before the fire broke out, a 1.6-magnitude earthquake was detected near the mine.
Ji Yifei, a reporter with China Central Television, is at the accident site.
"The quake occurred at a depth of about 6.8 kilometers. It has been identified as a mine-related quake. Such earthquakes are usually triggered by mining. It could be directly caused by mining activities or caused by the changes in geologic structures that occur during mine loading. The investigation team is now trying to determine whether the quake is linked to the fire."
Hengda Coal, the operator of the coal mine, has halted operations in all of its mines for safety checks.
Last year, Hengda Coal was removed from the list of mines which are up to the national and first-class safety standards by the State Administration of Work Safety and.
The company is a subsidiary of Fuxin Coal, a major producer in the province.
Over the past nine years, at least 6 accidents have been reported in mines run by Fuxin Coal, with a loss of 277 lives.
Last year, eight workers were killed during a gas leak in one of the company's mines.
Founded in 1978, the firm is one of the largest coal producers in northeast China, with annual production of 1.5 million tons.
For CRI, I'm Wang Mengzhen.
大家还在听
