An explosion at a coal mine in south China killed at least 15 workers, state media said Thursday, in the latest disaster to strike the country's notoriously dangerous mining industry. Thirty-two workers were underground when the blast occurred Tuesday at the Hongfa Mine in Hunan province's Niumasi town, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Seventeen managed to escape. Rescuers pulled out five bodies Tuesday and found another ten dead in the mine late Wednesday, Xinhua said.
