Two fans are being used to pump out gas in order to create a safe environment for further rescue and investigation operation with the ill-fated coalmine in Xinmi City, central China's Henan Province.

Information from a meeting of the leading group for rescue efforts in the Daping Coalmine, where the major gas explosion took place last Wednesday, said one more fan would be added to help accelerate the effort.

An explosion occurred at Daping Coalmine under the Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group, or Zhengmei Group, a listed state-owned company based in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, at about 10:10p.m. last Wednesday.

Of the 446 miners working underground, 298 managed to escape.

Up to now, 86 miners are confirmed to be dead, but 62 others remain missing, most of whom are believed to have been trapped at the No.13121 working platform and the downhill position of the No.21 Rock beneath the coalmine.

At present, the monitoring system for the 13121 working platform has been restored and rescue workers are going all out topump out gas from an upper passage of the working platform 13121 and to deal with gas and coal outburst.

Zhao Tiechui, deputy head of the State Administration for Supervision over Safety in Workplaces, emphasized at Monday's meeting that while taking pains to restore the ventilation facility and lower gas concentration to create a safe environment for rescue operation, it was also imperative to restore the watering and dust prevention mechanism and to pump out gas according to set requirements in order to prevent repeated gas explosions.

Source: Xinhua