At least 104 killed in China''s worst mine disaster in two years.

TOKYO, Nov 23 (KUNA) -- The death toll from a coal mine blast in northeast

China's Heilongjiang Province has risen to 104, marking the nation's worst

mine disaster in almost two years, state press reported Monday. Another four

are still trapped in the shaft, Xinhua News Agency said.

The explosion occurred around 2:30 a.m. Saturday (1830 GMT Friday) at the

coal mine under the state-owned Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group's

subsidiary in Hegang City, located over 400 km east of the provincial capital 

of Harbin, according to the report. A total of 528 miners were working

underground when the blast happened, among whom 420 have escaped the accident.

It is the latest tragedy to strike the nation's mining industry where

numbers of miners die despite improving safety standards. The mine is the

largest state-owned mine with an incident of this scale in years, according to

the China Daily. In quick order, the mine's director, deputy director and

chief engineer were sacked on Saturday, it said. The mine has an annual coal

output of 12 million tons and a verified coal reserve of 3 billion tons. The Supreme People's Procuratorate sent a team to Hegang on Sunday to

investigate any possible abuses of power, government inaction or misconduct,

as well as under-the-table deals at the mine that may have compromised safety

standards. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao both "made instructions

for the rescue work." Heilongjiang Governor Li Zhanshu said he takes major

responsibility for the accident, the daily reported. Although work safety situations in China have improved as of late, mine

disasters continue to kill people by the thousands each year. Around 3,200

people were killed in 2008. In the US and other developed countries, the

annual death toll in coal mines is generally no higher than 40. A state-run mine in the coal-rich Shanxi Province exploded on Feb. 22 and

killed 77. Saturday's incident has already claimed more lives than any

disaster of its nature since Dec. 2007, when 105 miners were killed in Shanxi.

If the eventual death toll exceeds that number, the Hegang incident will have

become China's deadliest mine blast since two collieries were flooded in

Shandong province in Aug. 2007, killing 181 miners, the daily added.

All KUNA right are reserved 2007.

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