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Post by John on Feb 22, 2009 8:16:10 GMT -5
hina Coal-Mine Blast Leaves at Least 73 Workers Dead (Update1)
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By Judy Chen
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- At least 73 Chinese miners died in a coal-mine explosion today in China’s northern Shanxi province.
The gas blast occurred at 2:17 a.m. in the Tunlan coal mine in Gujiao, a city about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the provincial capital of Taiyuan, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. It said that 436 people were working underground at the time of blast and 65 remained trapped as of 1 p.m. local time.
Trapped workers contacted relatives by cell phone from inside the mine, Xinhua reported, citing an unidentified rescuer.
Accidents at China’s mines, the world’s most dangerous, killed 3,770 people in 2007, government data showed. The authorities will crack down on illegal mines this year and close more than 1,000 pits as part of a campaign that is reducing fatalities, the official Xinhua News Agency said this month.
Among 113 hospitalized miners, 21 are in critical condition, today’s report said.
The mining company, Shanxi Coking Coal Group, is China’s largest coking coal producer, it said. The mine has an annual production capacity of 5 million tons, the State Council said in a statement on its Web site today.
Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, is on his way to the scene to investigate the cause of the accident, the State Council said.
The number of coal-mine accidents dropped 19.3 percent last year and the number of fatalities dropped 15.1 percent, Xinhua reported Feb. 2, without providing figures.
To contact the reporters on this story: Judy Chen in Shanghai at xchen45@bloomberg.net
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Post by John on Oct 16, 2010 8:24:56 GMT -5
Explosion in Chinese coal mine kills 21, traps 16
AP
Rescuers walk out of an entrance of Pingyu Mine after an explosion in Yuzhou, in central China's Henan province, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010. Rescuers bat AP – Rescuers walk out of an entrance of Pingyu Mine after an explosion in Yuzhou, in central China's Henan …
By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer Cara Anna, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago
BEIJING – Rescuers battled dangerous levels of gas, tons of coal dust and the risk of falling rocks as they worked to free 16 miners trapped by an explosion at a mine in central China early Saturday. Twenty-one miners were confirmed killed.
The blast happened as the world still was celebrating Chile's dramatically successful rescue of 33 miners trapped more than two months.
Rescuers have located the 16 Chinese miners but must clear tons of coal dust from the mine shaft to reach them, the state-run Xinhua News Agency cited a rescue spokesman as saying. It wasn't clear if the miners were alive or how far underground they were trapped.
The blast unleashed more than 2,500 tons of coal dust, an engineer for one of the mine's parent companies, Du Bo, told Xinhua. The report said ventilation has resumed in the mining pit but gas levels remain high.
The gas level inside the mine was 40 percent, far higher than the normal level of near 1 percent, China Central Television reported. The gas wasn't specified, but methane is a common cause of mine blasts, and coal dust is explosive.
The more than 70 rescuers on the scene also must clear chunks of coal loosened by the blast that fell into the shaft, the state-run broadcaster said.
The 20 dead miners' bodies had been retrieved, Xinhua said.
China's state-run media had joined the breathless global coverage of the Chilean mine rescue, and the country's propaganda and mine officials likely will face pressure to be just as open about the progress of its rescue efforts.
China's mining industry is the most dangerous in the world — with 2,600 people killed in accidents last year — and the country's leaders have been making a high-profile push in recent years to improve mine safety. Premier Wen Jiabao has even ordered mining bosses into the mines with their workers or else risk severe punishment.
Saturday's blast at the state-run Pingyu Coal & Electric Co. Ltd mine happened as workers were drilling a hole to release pressure from a gas buildup to decrease the risk of explosions, according to the work safety administration.
State media say another gas blast at the same mine two years ago killed 23 people.
In the latest blast, 276 workers were in the mine when the explosion happened and 239 escaped, according to the state work safety administration.
The mine in the city of Yuzhou is a couple of hours outside the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou and about 430 miles (690 kilometers) south of Beijing.
China had its own stunning mine rescue earlier this year, when 115 miners were pulled from a flooded mine in the northern province of Shanxi after more than a week underground. The miners survived by eating sawdust, tree bark, paper and even coal. Some strapped themselves to the walls of the shafts with their belts to avoid drowning while they slept.
Mining fatalities decreased in recent years as China closed many illegal mines, but deaths increased in the first half of this year. At least 515 people have been killed nationwide in coal mines alone.
An unknown number of illegal mines still exist to profit from the fast-growing economy's huge appetite for power.
China's economy remains reliant on coal for about two-thirds of its energy needs.
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Post by John on Oct 16, 2010 9:01:37 GMT -5
Drilling methane drainage holes without blowout preventors?
Certainly sounds like it from the reports that they were drilling methane drainage holes and had a massive blow out.
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Post by philipford734 on Oct 16, 2010 15:37:01 GMT -5
By the description it sounds like there was an outburst of methane similar to the outburst in Cynheidre South West Wales. One of the side effects of this type of outburst is the release of large quantities of coal dust into the workings, this has been the case in this sad end to the men's shift.
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Post by John on Oct 16, 2010 16:35:15 GMT -5
But if you read what the news story says Phil, drilling a hole to relieve gas pressure, methane drainage? ?? If so, why not use an anti blow out valve??? I'm not familiar with methane drainage, but watched long hole drillers underground, and they always used anti blow out valves much the same as the oil industry uses. These fellers used to drill 1.5Km holes to check the ore quality for the geology department. As we had high pressure gases, methane, pentane, nitrogen etc, they had to take precautions. The gas blows in Welsh mines occurred on the faces didn't they? It's hard to believe gas gets to such pressures in coal seams. I've seen a damp face with methane bubbling out of it, but never see a gas blower in coal before, plenty in hard rock!! Where it was contained in shale beds. |
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Post by John on Oct 17, 2010 7:48:48 GMT -5
Rescue workers in China are frantically trying to reach 11 miners trapped following an explosion that killed 26 of their colleagues.
While the world was celebrating the rescue of 33 men from the San Jose mine in Chile, a gas blast rocked the Pingyu coal mine in central China.
The miners' families are keeping vigil on the surface - but emergency officials said the chances of finding them alive were slim.
"Based on past experience, the remaining 11 miners could be buried in coal dust, so the survival chances are frail," deputy chief of the rescue headquarters Du Bo told state-run media.
Others feared the trapped men may have suffocated in the toxic underground atmosphere.
Reports said the miners have been located but tonnes of rock was blocking the shaft, preventing rescuers from reaching them.
Initial investigations found workers had been drilling a hole to release pressure from a gas buildup in order to decrease the risk of explosions.
However, some six million cubic feet (173,500 cubic metres) of gas rushed out, generating enough force to throw 2,500 tonnes of coal dust into the mine pit.
Officials hoped the accident served as a reason to push for reform in state-owned coal mines.
Secretary of the country's state administration of worker safety Luo Lin said: "You need to adopt some measures to address this.
"Why didn't you wait until after other coal extraction stopped so that you could handle the situation more securely? Then this explosion wouldn't have happened.
"This is very dangerous. These are the lessons we can summarise."
Concerns about the mine were echoed by at least one worker's relative, who has been waiting anxiously for news.
He Qiaofei, the mother of a missing 20-year-old miner who has worked in the mine for about a year, said: "This place is not even safe.
"They don't care about the workers' safety, they only care about their production."
Earlier this year China was celebrating its own miracle rescue of 115 miners after more than a week underground.
The men became trapped in a flooded mine in the country's north and survived by eating sawdust, tree bark, paper and even coal.
It was a rare good news story about the industry in China, where some 2,600 people were killed in mining accidents last year.
Sky News (c) Sky News 2010
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Post by John on Oct 18, 2010 7:01:38 GMT -5
It's not looking good!
Death toll rises to 30 in China coal mine accident
18 October 2010 27 views No Comment
BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll in central China's Henan Province after a coal mine gas leak risen to 30 on Monday, after four more bodies were found, officials said.
According to the Chinese Administration of Work Safety, seven workers are still trapped underground.
The accident happened on Saturday at a Pingyu Coal & Electric Co. Ltd.-owned coal mine in Yuzhou City. A total of 276 miners were working underground at the time of the accident.
According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, an initial investigation showed that more than 2,500 tonnes of coal dust was in the pit after the explosion. The accident occurred when workers were taking measures to prevent a gas explosion.
Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years, but they remain among the world's most dangerous with around 2,600 fatalities in 2009 alone.
Saturday's accident was not the first accident at the mine, which was the scene of an explosion on August 1, 2008 that left 23 workers dead.
On October 8, nine people were killed, including a rescue team, when they suffocated to death in a disused air shaft at a lead zinc ore mine in central China.
In November 2009, 104 miners were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in China's Heilongjiang province.
(Copyright 2010 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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Post by philipford734 on Oct 18, 2010 11:41:30 GMT -5
John, I have been looking on the Welsh Coalmines Web site. on it there is an account of an outburst in a drivage at Tarenni Pit in Nov 1914 which blew out 1000 tons of coal. Fortunately there where no men there when it blew.
Tarenni Pit had a number of outbursts 1 in 1913, 2 in 1914 and 1 in 1941 that killed 2.
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Post by John on Oct 18, 2010 12:18:01 GMT -5
I'm not disputing it happens Phil. just seems odd they were stated as drilling to relieve high gas pressure, so they seemed aware of the dangers of high pressure methane..
The only experience I've had with blowouts was in hard rock, believe it or not. First time we had a large blow of gas was when a heading was fired, estimates were over a 1000tonnes, I thought this was a load of BS and went down to have a look as it was just off my area of coverage.
Height of headings was 15 feet and width about 21 feet, I walked up to a high pile of shale and potash, it was within a couple of feet of the roof, I climbed up the pile and shone my lamp to the back, I couldn't see the headings face!!!
After the firing, on a prior shift, the mine was cleared due to extremely high levels of methane and other flammable gasses. Readings in the returns were in double digits, tests at No2 pit bank after a couple of hours were still in the 5% CH4 levels.
Not too long after that we had a heliminer driver killed in a gas blow out, he died from injuries sustained from the large rocks which hit him.
After that, long hole relief drilling was carried out in all headings.
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Post by John on Oct 19, 2010 7:40:34 GMT -5
Latest news, and it's not good.
Death toll rises to 37 after last miners found dead in central China mine
19 October 2010 5 views No Comment
YUZHOU, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll from a gas leak at a central China coal mine on Saturday has risen to 37, the government said, concluding recovery operations at the site.
The accident happened at around 6 a.m. local time on Saturday at a Pingyu Coal & Electric Co. Ltd.-owned coal mine in Yuzhou City of central China's Henan Province. A total of 276 miners were working underground at the time of the accident.
All but 37 of the miners were able to escape safely after the accident, according to the country's State Administration of Work Safety. The bodies of most of them, 20, were recovered within several hours but it took several days more to retrieve the other bodies.
According to a preliminary investigation, workers at the mine were taking measures to prevent or contain a gas leak at the site when the accident happened. Rescue operations following the accident were being hampered by a high concentration of gas underground.
Meanwhile, authorities in China have ordered a full scale investigation of the accident, which was the second deadly accident to take place at the mine. On August 1, 2008, 23 workers were killed after an explosion at the mine.
Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years, but they remain among the world's most dangerous with around 2,600 fatalities in 2009 alone.
On October 8, nine people were killed, including a rescue team, when they suffocated to death in a disused air shaft at a lead zinc ore mine in central China.
According to mining officials, two workers in charge of equipment removal at the mine in Hunan Province were overcome by a lack of oxygen. An eight-member rescue team was soon sent in to help but all died from a lack of oxygen. Another rescue team eventually found one of the two workers alive.
In November 2009, 104 miners were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in China's Heilongjiang province.
(Copyright 2010 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)
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Post by philipford734 on Oct 19, 2010 12:17:17 GMT -5
Very sad time for the mens relatives.
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Post by John on Mar 12, 2011 13:37:19 GMT -5
Asia & Pacific Coal Mine Blast Kills 19 in Southwest China Published March 11, 2011 | Associated Press BEIJING – Safety officials say a gas explosion from a coal mine in southwest China has killed 19 miners. The State Administration of Work Safety reports on its website that the blast occurred after midnight Friday in Guizhou province's Liupanshui city. It says 15 workers escaped and all the bodies have been recovered. An investigation is under way. Such explosions are usually caused by the ignition of methane and other gasses that accumulate in the shaft because of poor ventilation. China's coal mines are the world's deadliest with thousands of miners killed annually. Demand for coal induces many producers to sidestep safety regulations, although conditions have improved and a number of small, illegal mines have been shut. Read more: www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/11/coal-blast-kills-16-southwest-china/#ixzz1GParlrmM |
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Post by dazbt on May 15, 2011 7:08:27 GMT -5
but ......... things are getting better, according to the Chinese government official figures, the death toll is decreasing, last year (2010) only 8.44 miners were killed per working day ............. I'd bet that the 'unofficial' figure is nearer double that !! english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7380130.html |
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Post by spanker on Aug 30, 2012 15:09:23 GMT -5
I read of yet another disater in China
The blast took place on Wednesday afternoon at the Xiaojiawan mine in Panzhihua, Sichuan province, according to China’s official news agency Xinhua.
Xinhua said 154 miners had been working underground at the time of the blast. Of those, rescuer workers said 107 had been found alive and 28 were missing.
China’s coal mines are considered the most deadly on earth, with over 50,000 miners killed in the last decade alone.
But experts say a government crackdown on illegal and badly regulated coalmines has seen some improvement since the 1990s.
“They appear to have got rid of the most dangerous, nasty, polluting and unregulated small scale coal mines and instead of 80,000 or 100,000 there are now 10,000 or something,” said Philip Andrews-Speed, an expert on Chinese coal and and associate fellow of Chatham House.
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Post by spanker on Aug 30, 2012 15:11:30 GMT -5
50,000 dead miners in the last 10 years !
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Post by dazbt on Aug 30, 2012 15:37:33 GMT -5
The only truth about China's coal mining accident figures is that no-one will ever know the true figures and that applies equally to all who claim to know, the Government Authorities both central and local as well as the often quoted Labour Groups.
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Post by cortonwood on Aug 30, 2012 17:44:02 GMT -5
after reading johns post about methane boring without the blow out valve,I cant belive they do it,real disaster waiting to happen.
as far as i remember this valve was called the stuffing box and was pionered at my first colliery,cortonwood and was in fact called the cortonwood seal when the first used it...
it is used when the methane borers encounter large volumes and high gas pressures,when in the event of these the methane can be safely put into the methane drainage range and thus be prevented from entering the mines general body of air,,
methane was a real problem in the silkstone seam at cortonwood,and blow outs were feared after the pit experience a severe one in the sixties which lifted the floor on a face and killed several men,,
we had emergency air stations every 200m in the gates and every 10m on the face..
i've posted this mainly for the non miners as i would assume most ex/current miners know what i'm going on about.
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Post by spanker on Sept 25, 2012 3:04:29 GMT -5
20 coal miners killed in China mine car accident
Twenty workers at a coal mine in northwest China were killed on Tuesday when a steel cable pulling two mine cars broke. Local media reported that 34 miners were riding in the cars in the mine, located in Baiyin city in Gansu province. Fourteen miners were rescued after the accident.
And Again.
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