Blasts in two collieries, one in Yunnan and the other in Heilongjiang neither of which was authorized to operate killed at least 53 miners over the weekend, again raising the alarm on mine safety.

A gas explosion occurred at about 5 pm on Saturday in Changyuan Coal Mine in Fuyuan County of Southwest China's Yunnan Province when about 60 workers were underground.

By morning yesterday, 32 people were confirmed dead and the remaining 28 injured.

The exact number of workers who were underground and the cause of the explosion are being investigated.

An investigation team headed by Zhao Tiechui, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), arrived at the accident site yesterday.

The private mine, which started operation in 2004, was on the authorities' shut-down list of small mines that failed to meet safety standards in January this year.

However, the local government defied the order and let it continue production, according to Xinhua.

Also on Saturday, a gas blast in Yuanhua Coal Mine, located in Jixi of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, occurred at 1:50 pm, when 40 miners were underground.

By late last night, 21 were confirmed dead and six missing as rescue work continued. Thirteen workers were rescued.

The mine, also privately-owned, was built in 1996 with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons. Its licence expired in August this year but it continued operations despite the suspension order from the local coal mine safety watchdog, Xinhua reported.

The two accidents again typify some mine owners' utter disregard for safety in their greed for profits.

The two accidents happened on the same day SAWS issued a notice urging increased safety inspections in major State-owned coal mines.

Nearly 700 people have lost their lives this year in 342 colliery accidents at State-owned mines, the notice said.

Source: China Daily