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| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
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Death toll in southwest China gas explosion rises to 44 BEIJING, Saturday (AFP) The death toll from a gas explosion at a construction site in a highway tunnel in southwest China has risen to 44, state media reported Saturday. Eleven people remained injured, reported Xinhua news agency, quoting the Sichuan province work safety bureau. The gas explosion happened at 2:00 pm (0600 GMT) Thursday, less than 100 kilometers (62 miles) northwest of Chengdu, on a highway being built to link the smaller cities of Dujiangyan and Wenchuan. Two more bodies were discovered on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 44, said Xinhua, adding that most of the victims were construction workers. The State Administration for Work Safety said on its website that rescue work continued, but did not mentioned how many people were working in the tunnel at the time of the accident. The blast in Sichuan province was the latest in a series of deadly industrial mishaps amid China's rapid economic growth. Two coal mine blasts and a mine flooding in the past five weeks have killed nearly 300 people. An estimated 100,000 people are killed in workplace accidents in China each year. |
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