Three dead, 11 missing in Tanzania’s mine accident

Three people died and 11 others were missing when a gravel mine collapsed on Monday in Moshono area of Arusha Region, northern part of Tanzania.

Police in Arusha confirmed the accident, as rescue team was busy working on the ground to rescue the trapped people in the collapsed mine.

Unconfirmed report from the scene said there were 14 miners in the gravel mining site.

Eye-witnesses said the tragic accident occurred at around noon, when gravel miners were busy mining the important building materials in the area.

“We heard a big bang from inside the mine, the situation indicated the sudden fall of the debris,” a witness said.

Some of the trapped miners include those who were busy loading the gravel in two lorries which were also buried by the falling debris.

Police and other civilians teamed up to rescue the debris- covered people in the collapsed mine. At around 3 p.m. three people were retrieved from the debris and their bodies were preserved at the Mount Meru Regional Hospital.

This is the first mining accident happened this year, though similar accident occurred seven years ago in north Tanzania.

Officials, including the Arusha city mayor Gaudence Lyimo, camped in the area to facilitate the process.

Monday 1 April 2013

http://www.nzweek.com/world/three-dead-11-missing-in-tanzanias-mine-accident-57341/

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6 killed in Chinese mine where earlier blast killed 28 in country's latest industrial disaster

An explosion killed six workers Monday at a coal mine in northeast China where 28 miners were killed in a similar accident just three days earlier, state media reported, one of a string of industrial accidents across the country that is again focusing attention on lax enforcement of safety regulations.

The explosion at the mine outside the city of Baishan in Jilin province left 11 other miners missing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The cause of the most recent accident was under investigation and it wasn't clear why work had restarted at the mine so soon after last week's deadly blast.

Further south, an explosion at the Xinyu Group Iron Works smashed its 100-ton No. 2 furnace, killing four people and leaving 32 injured Monday, Xinhua said. It said the injured were transported to a hospital but gave no word on the cause of the accident.

Staff members reached by phone at the company confirmed the explosion, but said they had no other information to provide. Local government officials declined to comment, and all refused to give their names.

Meanwhile, workers on Monday had recovered 36 bodies from the site of a massive landslide outside Tibet's capital, Lhasa, that buried 83 copper miners on Friday, Xinhua said.

Just one worker survived the disaster at the Jiama Copper Polymetallic Mine, having left the site earlier to purchase tents in the city, it said. The miners were mostly impoverished farmers from the southern province of Guizhou recruited to work in the frigid conditions at 4,600 metres (15,100 feet) above sea level.

More than 4,000 rescuers were still looking for those buried, but little hope was being held out for their survival, Xinhua said. The sudden collapse of the surrounding hillside left a layer of rocks and soil over the miners 30 metres (98 feet) deep in places, the reports said.

China has struggled to boost workplace safety in recent years amid the pressures of rapid economic growth. Tougher enforcement of safety rules has brought major improvements in areas such as coal mining, while companies have also been forced to improve conditions to attract workers amid a tightening labour market.

Monday 1 April 2013

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/killed+injured+iron+works+explosion+eastern+China/8177402/story.html

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More Tibet landslide bodies recovered

Recovery crews have found 36 bodies after a huge landslide in Tibet buried more than 80 mine workers three days ago, Chinese state-run media said Monday, but dangerous conditions forced a halt to operations.

Another 47 miners remained missing under two million cubic metres of earth east of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, and more than 4,000 emergency workers had been battling snow and altitude sickness to search for them, said the official news agency Xinhua.

But it added: "Their odds of survival are slim."

Work at the site was suspended on Monday afternoon because of the risk of another landslide, it said.

Some workers dug with their bare hands following Friday's landslide to avoid damaging bodies or because the disaster had blocked roads needed to deliver large-scale rescue equipment, reports said.

One worker at the camp, Zhao Linjiang, survived the landslide but his brother was among those buried, Xinhua said.

"I was numbed by the scene and trudged back and forth, crying all along," it quoted him as saying in Lhasa, wiping tears from his face. "It's so cosy here, but my brother is so cold up there on the mountain."

Experts from the ministry of land and resources have arrived in the area to investigate the cause of the landslide.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to such occurrences, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity, and the risk of additional landslides has heightened concerns about safety.

In recent years China has discovered huge mineral resources in Tibet, including tens of millions of tonnes of copper, lead and zinc, and billions of tonnes of iron ore.

Monday 1 April 2013

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hkKTuYIlmgJLSwhZ20rShA8hKWfQ?docId=CNG.022d798f03b042601eef734cf413a383.4d1

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