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China coal mine blast

An explosion at a coal mine in remote northeastern China killed 134 workers and left another 15 trapped underground, state media said, amid frantic rescue efforts to find survivors. A total of 221 miners were underground when the blast and cave-in occurred about 9:40 pm. "It`s all the management`s fault," a woman surnamed Ge, whose nephew and brother-in-law were among the missing, told reporters outside the gates of the mine.

The official Xinhua news agency, which gave the same casualty toll, said 38 of the survivors are being treated in hospital. Officials at the mine refused to detail the situation or the death toll, but video on China Central Television showed gaping holes in numerous places at the mine site where explosions had ripped through the earth.

A dozen other relatives of those missing hung around the mine gates in temperatures near 15 degrees below zero Celsius, some crying or sobbing and others refusing to speak with journalists. Ambulances were seen rushing out of the mine gates. After a day of intense rescue efforts, 72 survivors had been pulled from the rubble, said the semi-official state media.