China detains coal mine owners after explosion traps 10 (AP) Updated: 2006-10-07 14:33
BEIJING - Chinese authorities have detained the owners of an ill-fated coal
mine in the country's northeast where ten people remained trapped Saturday,
state media say.
Police took the two owners of Baoxin Coal Mine in Heilongjiang province
into custody on Friday, a day after an explosion at the facility trapped the
miners, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The owners were not identified.
Xinhua said rescue efforts to free the miners were being hampered by heavy
flooding in the mine triggered by the explosion.
In January 2003 an explosion at the
same mine killed 34 people.
Underground explosions are often blamed on mine owners' failure to install
required ventilation equipment to clear gas that seeps out of the coal
bed.
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