China: At least 17 coal miners died by falling in a pit of fire while working in northeast China’s Liaoning province.
The government of Huludao said on Friday that 13 trapped miners were killed on the spot and four more died when shifted to the hospital. Another six miners survived the inferno that appeared to have been sparked by faulty electrical wiring.
China’s coal miners are considered to be the world’s deadliest, but the safety improvements and a decline in the demand for coal have reduced the number of deaths in recent years.
Last year, 931 people were killed in mine accidents throughout China, drastically down from the death toll in 2002, when nearly 7,000 miners died.
