BBC News Online: World: Asia-Pacific

Fifty dead in China mining disasters

China's mining industry has a deadly safety record

The latest blast took place in Wenshan county, in the south-western province of Yunnan, at about midday on Monday.

The accident happened in an unlicensed mine, where 35 men were working - 10 of them were injured and taken to hospital.

Mining accidents are very common in China - more than 5,000 workers were killed last year alone, according to official statistics.

Our correspondent in Beijing says the unofficial figure is thought to be at least double that.

Also on Monday, 18 workers suffocated to death in a coal mine in Hunan province when natural gas started leaking into a mine shaft, Xinhua news agency reported.

The accident happened near Loudi city on Monday night, said an official of the city mine bureau. The mine was properly licensed and had a good safety record, he said.

About 30 men were in the mine at the time, and 12 escaped, the official said.

Death traps

In the third accident, seven workers were killed on Sunday at small mine in Shangli county Jiangxi province that had previously been shut down but was operating illegally, the Xinhua Daily Telegraph reported.

An eighth person was reported missing.

China's mining industry is one of the world's biggest, and it is by far the most deadly, says our correspondent.

The government has shut down tens of thousands of mines because of appalling safety records, but in many cases, local officials and private entrepreneurs have carried on operating mines illegally.

Last month a manager was sentenced to five years in prison after a blast in his mine killed 11 people.