Twin mine accidents kill 10 in Henan

ZHENGZHOU: A pair of accidents at two neighbouring gold mines in central China’s Henan Province killed 10 people, local authorities said.

Thick smoke engulfed a pit at Qinling gold mine of China National Gold Group in Lingbao City on Friday, trapping 12 workers and six management staff, the press office of the city committee of the Communist Party of China said in a statement.

It said rescuers retrieved seven dead bodies in the pit Friday night. Of the 10 people who were found and sent to hospital, one failed to respond to emergency treatment and the other nine were recuperating.

One of the trapped workers remained missing as of yesterday morning. But search and rescue had to be halted in the pit, where carbon monoxide density was extremely high and visibility was less than a metre, the city’s emergency response office said.