BEIJING, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - At least 23 miners were killed in a gas explosion that hit a coal mine in northeast China on Thursday, the country's Xinhua news agency said.
Rescuers are carrying out a search operation for another four missing miners, believed trapped in the mine in Fuxin, Liaoning Province.
The explosion took place at around 9:00 a.m. local time.
China's mining industry is considered one of the world's most dangerous with accidents killing up to 7,000 workers annually. A major gas blast at Liaoning's Sunjiawan mine in February 2005 killed over 200 miners, making it the worst mining tragedy in China for at least 15 years.
