A blast Monday at a coal mine in northern Vietnam killed at least seven workers and injured 15, a company executive was quoted as saying by Associated Press. Rescue workers pulled their bodies from a 750-foot-deep (230-meter-deep) tunnel in Quang Ninh province and were still searching for another victim following the methane explosion early Monday morning, said Nguyen Van Thuan of the Khe Cham Coal company. Fifteen miners were being treated for burns, while 103 others escaped unhurt, he said. Authorities believe the miners died from severe burns. Investigators were trying to determine what started the blast, Thuan said. Quang Ninh, about 120 miles (190 kilometers) east of capital Hanoi, is Vietnam's main coal mining region.
