28 dead, 13 injured in NE China colliery gas blast

CHANGCHUN -- Twenty-eight people were confirmed dead and 13 others injured in a coal-mine gas blast late Friday in northeast China's Jilin Province, authorities said Saturday.

Forty-one workers were trapped after the accident happened around 10:40 p.m. at Babao Coal Mine in Jiangyuan District in the city of Baishan, said a spokesman with the provincial work safety and supervision bureau.

The injuries of the 13 were not life threatening, said the spokesman.

Wang Rulin, Party chief of the province, and governor Bayanqolu rushed to the scene to guide the rescue and also visited the injured workers who were receiving treatment at hospital. Fu Jianhua, deputy chief of the state administration of work safety, also rushed to the scene immediately after the accident.

Rescue work has been finished, and the cause of the accident is under investigation, according to the spokesman.

The mine is a state-owned colliery under the Tonghua Mining (Group) Co Ltd