Chiense coal mine fire kills 24
An underground fire has killed 24 coal miners in China, state media has said.
The official Xinhua News Agency says another 52 miners were injured in the disaster in the mine run by the state-owned Fuxin Coal Corporation in Liaoning province in the north-east
China’s mines are among the most dangerous in the world, although improved safety measures have vastly lowered the number of fatalities in accidents.
The government’s China National Coal Administration reported 1,067 deaths in 604 coal mining accidents in 2013, down 23% from the year before. That is reduced from more than 6,000 a decade ago.
The decline has coincided with plateauing demand for coal as the Chinese economy cools from the dizzying heights of the last few years.
