Coal mining tragedy

Chenjiashan, China

More than 150 miners died in a gas explosion this week, in China’s worst coal mine accident in a decade. Nearly 300 men were working five miles underground, in the Chenjiashan mine, when gases that had built up because of poor ventilation ignited. The tragedy prompted the normally docile newspaper China Youth Daily to criticize the government. The paper said that officials running the mine had flouted safety rules, forcing miners to go back underground even though a fire had broken out a week before. Thousands of workers die in Chinese coal mines every year. The official death toll for the first three quarters of this year is 4,153.