Chinese police find miners' bodies

Police in north China have discovered 34 bodies believed to be those of miners killed in an underground explosion.

State-run media said the bodies were dumped in four locations a few kilometres from the Yixingzhai mine in Shanxi province where the blast occurred.

The mine management had previously said that two people died in the explosion nine days ago.

But a local newspaper quoted witnesses as saying that 46 people were killed when they were ordered to keep working as flames raged around them.

Investigators are now searching for the mine operators who are suspected of staging a massive cover-up. Correspondents say China's mining industry is notoriously unsafe.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service