At least nine miners have died and one is missing after a gas leak at a coal mine in southwest China's Guizhou Province, the Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
The agency said, citing local authorities, that the incident occurred late on Thursday night with 172 miners working in the pit at the time. Shortly after the gas leak, 162 of them managed to leave the mine on their own.
Rescuers have so far extracted nine bodies from the mine and continue search for a missing miner.
The accident comes a week after a blast at a coal mine in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province that claimed 104 lives.
China's coal mining industry is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. Up to 7,000 lives are lost annually during accidents at mining enterprises.
In 2005, a gas explosion in a coal mine in China's northeastern province of Liaoning killed more than 200 workers.
BEIJING, November 27 (RIA Novosti)
