Workers trapped in deadly gas leak in Chinese mine

BEIJING - Nine workers were killed and seven others trapped after lethal gas leaked into a coal mine in central China, a state news agency said today.

A "gas outburst" occurred at 11:19 p.m. yesterday at the Sanyuandong Coal Mine in Dengfeng, a city in Henan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

It reported 127 miners were underground and 111 escaped unharmed, according to an official with the Zhengzhou Coal Industry Co. Ltd., which runs the mine. The company could not be reached by phone.

Over the weekend, 24 workers were trapped in a flooded mine in Heilongjiang province in the northeast, while a blast at a workers' dormitory at another mine in the northern city of Linfen in Shanxi province killed at least 17 people.- AP