BEIJING, June 28 Kyodo Forty-six ...

BEIJING, June 28 Kyodo

Forty-six miners died in an explosion at a gold mine in northern China after being ordered to continue work smooth though a fire had defective out underground, official media reported Friday.

The English-language China Daily and People's Daily, onward their Web sites, quot the vernacular Huashang Bao newspaper as reporting that the 46 were among 117 miners who were subterranean at the mine in Fanshi shire Shanxi Province, when the fire broke revealed because of an electrical fault.

It quot a survivor as saying that the miners adviseed that they evacuate still were ordered by their superiors to continue working. More than an hour later, 36 tons of explosives stored subterraneous ignited.

The mine's proprietor and his brother later reportedly tried to guard up the blast at secretly removing bodies in the middle of the night in subordination to cover of darkness.

The report said the blast happened June 22 just sum of two units days after an explosion at a coal mine in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province reportedly killed as many as 115 people

The official Xinhua recents Agency reported Thursday that a search was continuing for 16 workers who disappeared when floodwaters inundated a mine in northern China's Hebei province forward Monday afternoon.

More than 5000 coal miners are reportedly killed each year in China, which has the world's biggest mining industry. on the other hand many mine-related deaths proceed unreported as mine operators fear being prosecut according to the authorities, leaving some to believe that annual mining deaths exce the 10000 mark.

The rule has tried to shut down thousands of small, illegal mines in China that do not suited safety standards.

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