Nine people died in a gas explosion at a coal mine in south-western China, local officials said Monday, according to dpa. The toll given by officials in Yunnan province's Zhenxiong county halved the number of victims initially reported in area newspapers. All 36 miners who had been missing in Sunday's accident at the Shizishan mine near Zhaotong had been rescued and seven miners were injured, the county officials said. The mine had been warned in August because gas concentrations were too high and required ventilation precautions weren't being followed, the China News Service said. A lack of safety measures, poor equipment, and cronyism between local regulators and mine owners have resulted in high numbers off mining accidents in China, where about 10,000 miners lose their lives on the job each year, the highest death toll in the world in the industry.
