Rescue team find body of last mine blast victim

In another coal mine blast accident in Xingren County of southwest China's Guizhou Province, rescuers work at the accident site yesterday. There was an explosion at 11:23pm on Thursday while 172 miners were working underground. Nine miners were killed and three suffered injuries. One miner is still missing and rescue operations are ongoing. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

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RESCUERS have found the body of the last miner missing after a coal mine blast in northeast China, bringing the death toll to 108.

The body was recovered at about 4pm yesterday in the debris of a shaft at the Xinxing Coal Mine in Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province, said Zhang Jinguan, a spokesman for the team investigating the causes of the fatal accident.

The search had been called off and workers were clearing up the mine shaft, Zhang said.

The blast ripped through the mine under the state-owned Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group's subsidiary in Hegang last Saturday afternoon.

A total of 528 miners were working underground when the blast happened, but 420 managed to escape.

Safety officials and investigators blamed poor management and inadequate safety precautions for the coal mine blast.

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