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Twenty-seven Chinese miners missing in two accidents

BEIJING, March 11 (Reuters) - At least 27 miners are missing in two colliery accidents which had initially been covered up by mine owners in northeast China, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

China, the largest producer and consumer of coal, has been battling to improve safety standards in its mines, but accidents are common as owners push production beyond safety limits to meet robust demand to fuel the country's economic boom.

A total of 14 miners were missing after the Jianbao coal mine in Jixi city, Heilongjiang province, caved in on Feb. 28, but the mine manager told the provincial work safety bureau that only two miners were trapped underground, Xinhua said, quoting local unidentified authorities.

The Jixi city government and the provincial work safety bureau launched an investigation after receiving tip-offs from residents several days after the accident, the agency said.

Rescuers have pumped out about 80,000 cubic metres of flood water, but none of the missing workers have been found, it said.

In another accident, 13 miners were missing and feared dead after the Taiyuan coal mine in Hegang city caught fire on March 5, Xinhua said. Thirty miners have been rescued.

Hegang police have detained the miner owner and four others for claiming that everyone was safe. The mine's assets have been frozen.

The fire would take at least a week to put out, Xinhua said. The missing are feared dead because a high concentration of toxic carbon monoxide gas has hampered rescue work.

Preliminary investigations showed the accident was caused by either improper use of welding equipment or an underground cable fire.

The number of deaths from accidents at Chinese coal mines dropped one-fifth in 2007 from the previous year, although 3,786 people still lost their lives. That was a big improvement over 2005, when the death toll was nearer to 6,000. (Reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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