Coal mine explosion in China kills 90 people

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A gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s northern Shanxi province killed at least 90 people, state media said on Saturday, in the country’s deadliest mining accident in recent years. Official news agency Xinhua said the accident at Changzhi city’s Liushenyu coal mine happened on Friday evening. Around 247 workers were on duty at the time. Nine miners were still unaccounted for as of Saturday afternoon, Xinhua said, and more than 120 people were hospitalized. The cause of the explosion was under investigation, Xinhua reported, and rescue work is pressing on with hundreds of rescuers and medical personnel sent to the site. Among the injured, many were hurt by toxic gas, according to state media CCTV. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an all-out effort to rescue the missing, reported Xinhua. Xi also called for the “proper handling of the aftermath of the accident and urged a thorough investigation into its cause, with accountability pursued in accordance wi...
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South Korean wildfires spread, three more disaster zones named

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Deadly wildfires spread further across South Korea on Monday as authorities designated three more counties ‘special disaster zones’.

At least four people have been killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes since blazes broke out in several areas on Saturday, stoked by strong winds and dry weather.

Kim Byung-wook, a 64-year-old farmer in Sancheong County in the southern part of the country, said the house he had lived in for more than 30 years had been destroyed.

“Things that remind me of my youth disappeared without a trace – photos of my children when they were young,” he told Reuters.

“The biggest priority is to quickly come up with measures to support and allow disaster recovery as soon as possible,” he said.

Sancheong was already a special disaster zone – a designation that triggers extra funding and other measures. Acting President Han Duck-soo added another county in South Gyeongsang Province and two others in Ulsan and North Gyeongsang Province to the list.

Han, who returned to the post following a ruling by the Constitutional Court earlier in the day, visited Uiseong County, one of the affected areas, and met residents who had taken shelter, his office said in a statement.

SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/Zt9qvUK

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