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Associated Press

Seven coal miners are dead and another four still missing after Monday’s gas explosion in a coal mine in central China, authorities said on Wednesday.
This was the country’s third major mining accident in a week, bringing the number of deaths to a total of 60. Fifty-three miners died in two similar blasts only last week.
Up to 46 miners were working underground at the time of the latest blast at 8pm at Xinjia Coal Mine in Badong, Hubei province, Xinhua reported.
Sixteen miners were working at the coalface at the time. Five men escaped but 11 were trapped. By Wednesday, rescuers had recovered seven bodies.
How China’s bid to curb coal output has backfired, encouraging production and increasing mining accidents
Twenty rescuers were trying to clear the shaft to reach the trapped miners and air was also being pumped into the area where they were thought to be. The legal representative of the mine was being held by police, Xinhua reported.
There are no details about the cause of the blast, but such incidents usually happen when unventilated coal gas is ignited by a spark or open flame.
The explosion is the third major mining accident in one week in the country, the world’s top producer and consumer of coal.
Watch: China coal mine blasts kill at least 32 in Inner Mongolia


Beijing announced the firings of safety officials after a December 3 blast in Inner Mongolia that killed 32 people, and the arrests of mine operators after 21 miners were found dead in Heilongjiang province.
The accidents also came as national safety regulators issued a warning to all coal mines last week not to be operating beyond their daily capacity in the wake of rising coal prices.
An accident at an “illegal” mine in Liaoning province killed at least 11 people in July. Two months later another accident occurred in Ningxia, killing at least 18 miners. In early November, an explosion at a small mine in Chongqing killed 33 workers, according to the nation’s production safety watchdog.
Doubts cast over whether China can cut back huge coal and steel sectors as prices of commodities rebound
Authorities said the sudden increase in coal mining accidents over the past few months was because mine owners were ordering miners to work overtime and reopening unlicensed mines, Xinhua reported.
China’s coal prices have begun to rebound since the end of 2015. Yet the price rise has quickly gathered pace since June, after the central government closed down old and unproductive mines as part of efforts to eliminate excess capacity.
The benchmark thermal coal price for delivery to Qinhuangdao port surged to nearly 700 yuan (HK$790) per tonne in October – its highest level in four years.
However, a new study by China Coal Research Institute said the surge in the price of coal would be short-lived as there was no obvious growth in demand or production costs, which were needed to support the continuous increase.
Record Chinese output risks raising steel tensions with US, EU
“A supply gap created by specific policies, rather than an increase in demand, is the reason for the recent price increase,” said Wu Lixin, the author of the study, who estimated there was a 222 million tonne gap between production and consumption during the first nine months of 2016.
“In the long term, China’s coal demand will stabilise at around 4 billion tonnes, which can be fully met by domestic supply,” Wu said. “As China reaches a balance in domestic coal demand and supply, coal prices will decline.”


7 killed in China’s latest coal mine blast, bringing week’s total mining deaths to 60

The explosion at the mine in Hubei province is the third major mining accident in one week for China, the world’s top producer and consumer of coal. File photo: Xinhua

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Blast in Hubei province follows death of 53 miners in two similar accidents last week
