Death toll rises to 41 in China mine blast

 

The death toll from the coal mine blast in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan rose Friday afternoon to 41, as rescuers tried to reach five trapped miners whose fates were unknown, according to the local government.

So far, 107 miners have been rescued from the Xiaojiawan Coal Mine, most of them within an hour of the Wednesday evening gas explosion, according to Panzhihua city's official account on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.

In all, 154 miners were working underground when the accident occurred.

Carbon monoxide and searing temperatures hindered rescue efforts.

"The temperature in the pit is very high, and the air is not very good. The rescuers need respirators to stay longer," state-run China Daily quoted Tang Zhong, a rescuer, as saying.

Roof collapses within tunnels further hampered access, said Fu Jianhua, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, according to the paper.