A gas explosion killed 77 people and injured eight in a state-owned coal mine in northeast China, the Xinhua news agency said on Friday.
The accident at Wangjiaying coal mine in Liaoning province on Jan. 24 was still being investigated.Chai Zhaoxi, director of the safety department under the Ministry of Coal Industry, said the fire in the mine shaft has been extinguished.
The explosion occurred in a new shaft that was not operational yet when a large team of workers was installing equipment, he said. "Therefore, it caused many more casualties than a usual accident," Chai said. Normally only 30 miners work in a shaft at a time.
A team went into the shaft on Friday to investigate the accident.
Major accidents in Chinese coal mines killed more than 2,000 miners last year, up nearly 30 percent from the previous year.