21 killed in coal mine fire accident in China

BEIJING: Twenty-one workers were today killed and one other person went missing when a fire engulfed a state-owned coal mine in northeast China.

Rescuers have found bodies of 21 workers and are searching for another missing after a coal mine caught fire in Heilongjiang Province late evening yesterday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 38 miners were working down in the shaft when the fire broke out, and 16 of them managed to escape.

The fire broke out at the mine in Jixi city operated by the state-owned Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group.

The government said the fire was under control and no secondary disaster had been reported, it said.

Accidents have become common as energy hungry China depends a lot on coal supplies to fire its economy.