At Least 18 Die in China Coal Mine Fire

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 3:01 pm

BEIJING: Eighteen miners were killed and nine trapped in a coal mine fire in China, authorities said on Wednesday.
At least nine workers were believed to be trapped in the Lisheng Coal Mine in Hunan province where underground cables caught fire. About 70 miners were working in the shaft at the time of the incident. Forty-three of them managed to escape. Rescuers retrieved dead bodies from a mining platform in the shaft about 160 metres underground.