At least 20 workers were killed and another 23 were trapped underground after a blast at a mine in China on Thursday, state media said, in the latest disaster to hit the country's vast mining industry. Hundreds of emergency workers and medics have been sent to the mine in south-west China to try to rescue the surviving workers, but their efforts are being hampered by a gas leak, the official China News Service (CNS) said.
The mine was hit by a "coal and gas outburst" - a sudden and violent ejection of coal, gas and rock from a coal face in a mine, which can cause serious injuries and damage machinery, a local mine safety official told AFP.