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Death toll rises to 26 in NW China colliery gas blast

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-02 17:44

XI'AN -- The death toll from Wednesday's gas explosion at a colliery in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has risen to 26 after three more bodies were found on Sunday.

Rescuers found a body at around 3:40 a.m. and another two at around 9:50a.m. in a shaft at the Yaotou mine, Chengcheng County. Rescuers were still searching for the last three trapped underground, a county government official said.

Related readings:  Three dead, 26 still missing in colliery gas blast  Colliery gas explosion traps 24 in NE China

"It was more than 80 hours after the accident. The concentration of poisonous gas is high and their chances of survival are slim," he said.

Twenty-one of the 26 victims had been identified, and most were Chengcheng locals and residents from Shandong and Henan provinces, he said.

The tragedy occurred in the state-owned mine on at around 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Only seven of the 36 workers in the pit managed to escape.

The mine, with a complete set of valid licenses, has an annual output capacity of 330,000 tons.