CHINA: In China's worst disaster in the industry since the 1949 communist revolution, 203 miners died in an explosion on Monday, the latest victims of a hunger for energy that has made Chinese mining the most dangerous in the world.
Miners felt an earthquake underground 10 minutes before the explosion rocked the mine shaft, Mr Zhang Yunfu, a spokesman for the operators of the Sunjiawan mine in Liaoning province, told the official Xinhua news agency.
Of 230 miners about 240 metres underground at the time of blast, 203 are dead and 22 injured.
The Sunjiawan colliers are only the latest fatalities in a dreadfully dangerous industry. Over half of all industrial goods are now made in China. To sustain this kind of astonishing output, China needs masses of fuel.
China, the biggest global producer, supplies more than one-third of the world's coal. Yet its collieries accounted for 80 per cent of all coal mining-related deaths last year.
A Chinese miner is 100 times more likely to die in a workplace accident than his US counterpart. Over 6,000 workers were killed last year in mining disasters - floods, explosions and fires.
"The rescue operations are still going on and the coal mine is still verifying the conditions of workers," a local mining official said.
But the real cause of the accident remains unknown, pending an investigation.
The State Administration of Work Safety told state television it would carry out a nationwide check on high-gas coal mines.
Leaders in Beijing have called on local officials "to spare no effort to rescue those stranded in the mine" and they want "strict measures" to prevent any more such disasters.
Premier Wen Jiabao toured a coal mine in Shaanxi province, where 166 workers died last November in the previous single deadliest accident since 1990.
Mr Wen even ventured 1,300 metres down one pit, where he shook hands with miners and shared a simple lunch.
Illegal mines are routinely shut down after major accidents; some reopen once inspectors have left.
The deaths are generally blamed on negligence, poor safety equipment or bad ventilation.
Underground explosions are blamed on a lack of ventilation equipment to clear gas that seeps from the coal bed.
Safety standards and proper techniques are often sacrificed under pressure to keep the collieries busy and production high. The Sunjiawan mine, which is in the Fuxin region of Liaoning province, has an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons, Xinhua said.
Four miners were killed in an explosion in Fuxin last year. The mine's seam has been largely depleted and there have been efforts to encourage more diversification in the local economy there.
But many locals still rely on the pit for their livelihoods.
The government has made efforts to improve safety and accountability in the mining industry - six people were sentenced to up to six years in prison after China's worst industrial accident, a gas leak which killed 243 people in Chongqing municipality in December.
Beijing has also budgeted hundreds of millions of euro since 2000 to improve ventilation in mines and reduce other safety hazards.
However, safety officials admit some mines have been cranking up output beyond safe levels.
Electricity generated from coal supplies three-quarters of China's energy needs, which far outstrip supply.
However, mining disasters are set to continue for the time being, certainly for as long as China remains the glittering prize of the world's natural resources and commodities market.
Besides being the world's number one coal producer, China is also the top producer of steel and the fifth largest producer of crude oil.
Huge tracts of the country, which is bigger than the US in terms of land mass, are unexplored for minerals.