20 Chinese coal miners die after carriages crash
Tuesday - 9/25/2012, 12:57am ET
BEIJING (AP) - A steel cable broke as it was pulling two carriages at a coal mine in northwest China on Tuesday, killing 20 workers in the country's latest mining accident.
The state-run China News Service said 34 miners were riding in the carriages when the cable broke, overturning the carriages in the mine in Baiyin city in Gansu province. It said 14 miners were rescued.
China has the world's deadliest coal mine industry with 1,973 miners killed in accidents last year.
Safety improvements have reduced deaths in recent years, but safety rules are often ignored and accidents are still common.
In August, a mine blast in Sichuan left 44 people dead, the highest single accident toll for the industry in nearly three years.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
