7 dead in coal mine incident

Seven people died on Thursday morning in an underground fire involving flammable gases at a coal mine run by the Liangbaosi Coal Mine company in Jiaxiang county of Jining, Shandong province, the county government said.

The fire occurred at 6:55 am. In the next two and a half hours, all 19 people working in the mine were lifted to the ground. Sixteen were injured and sent for medical treatments. Of those, seven died.

One other worker was seriously injured but in stable condition, the county said, adding that the injuries of the other eight are not life-threatening.

Wang Lianfu, the mine's head, has been removed from his post, according to the headquarters set up to handle the incident. Operations at the mine were suspended.

The province issued a notice on Thursday night that inspections would be carried out on mine production across the province to rule out potential risks.

An investigative team led by the Shandong Bureau of Coal Mine Safety Supervision is looking into the accident.