Four dead in concealed coal mine blast in northeast China

HARBIN - Four people died in a coal mine explosion in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, said local authorities on Tuesday.

The blast ripped through a shaft of the Xinjiu Coal Mine in Shuangyashan City at about 6 p.m. on September 4. The owner of the mine then tried to conceal the deadly accident for two weeks, according to an official with the municipal publicity department.

In an attempt to bury the scandal, the owner of Xinjiu did not call for rescue. Instead, he asked other miners to search for the missing.

Details of the accident are not yet known.

The Xinjiu Coal Mine, under the Shuangxin Coal Mining Co., Ltd, has a legal license. But it has been ordered to suspend operation in a local clean-up campaign. The mine owner has surrendered himself to police.