17 miners dead in China coal mine disaster

BEIJING, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Two coal mine disasters in China killed at least 17 miners, authorities said Tuesday.

Both incidents occurred Monday and the deaths of the miners were confirmed Tuesday by rescue workers, Xinhua reported.

In the first disaster, 23 miners were trapped after a gas explosion at the Baijiagou Coal Mine in Faku in northeast Liaoning Province.

The report said eight of them died in the mine and their bodies were recovered from the shaft. Two of the others rescued later died at a hospital, bringing the death toll to 10.

Three of the survivors remained in critical condition.

In the other incident in southern Yunnan Province, rescuers found the bodies of seven of the 10 miners trapped in a collapsed coal shaft in Mengla County, the report said.

The miners, who had gone down to do repair work, were trapped when part of a tunnel collapsed.

Rescuers were trying to locate the other three, the report said.