Death toll at Chinese mine rises to 92,several still trapped underground

BEIJING -- The death toll from a powerful gas explosion Saturday at a coal mine in northeastern China has risen to 92 , with 16 miners still trapped more than a third of a mile underground, according to media reports.

The toll, which more than doubled overnight, makes it the worst mining accident in the past two years , and again highlights China's poor mine safety record. Some 3,215 miners died in accidents last year, and 3,786 died in 2007.

Hundreds of rescuers were working in frigid temperatures Sunday to free those trapped in the Xingxing mine, in Heilongjiang province near the border with Russia. The rescuers had located eight of the trapped miners, according to state media.

The explosion occurred in the early morning hours when 528 miners were working underground in the state-owned mine in the city of Hegang. The blast shattered windows in nearby buildings and shook homes several miles away.

About 415 miners managed to escape. Some were in local hospitals suffering from burns, broken bones and carbon monoxide poisoning.

The explosion disabled the mine's ventilation and communications systems, hampering the efforts of rescue workers, according to China Central Television.

China has the world's worst record on coal mine safety, mainly because of the huge number of illegal mines helping to fuel the country's economic boom. Coal accounts for about 80 percent of China's electricity needs.

Official government figures say about 80 percent of the country's 16,000 coal mines are illegal and largely ignore safety regulations. The illegal mines supply about a third of the country's coal and account for three-quarters of mine-related deaths.

The most deadly mine accident this year before the Xingxing blast was in Shanxi province in February, when 74 miners died.

China's media have recently provided regular coverage of the country's mining accidents and the problem of illegal mines, and government officials have promised to try to bring the problem under control.

The government attributes the 15 percent decrease in deaths between 2007 and last year to efforts to shutter the illegal mines and bring others into compliance with safety rules.