China launched a new coal mining safety body on Friday, as 19 miners were reported dead in the latest gas explosion to hit the country's accident-plagued mines. The last of the 19 bodies was recovered Friday morning after the explosion ripped through a shaft at the Sunlongsi coal mine in the southwestern city of Chongqing on Thursday afternoon, the state safety administration said on its website. Thirty-two of the 51 miners working underground at the time of the blast had survived, the administration said. The other 19 miners were trapped by debris from the blast and all were confirmed dead by Friday. Safety officials were investigating the cause of blast, it said. In response to a string of mining disasters to hit China in recent months, the government on Friday launched a new office to coordinate mining safety. The new body pools resources from 11 ministries and institutes and aims to "stem the country's rampant coal mine accidents", state media quoted Zhang Guobao, vice-minister of the State Development and Reform Commission, as saying. It plans to send safety inspectors to mines where 45 of the most serious explosions occurred, assess the mines' safety needs, and allocate 3 billion yuan (360 million dollars) for safety improvements, Zhang said. Last month, China's worst mining accident in more than 40 years left 214 people dead at a coal mine in the northeastern province of Liaoning. More than 8,000 workers are estimated to die annually in Chinese coal and other mines. Many accidents at small or illegal mines are not even reported.
