48 dead in SW China colliery blast

BEIJING - The death toll has risen to 48 in last month's colliery blast in Southwest China's Sichuan Province as bodies of the last three miners were retrieved, the State Administration of Work Safety said Monday.

The coal mine in Panzhihua city, about 750 km southwest of Chengdu, the provincial capital, was struck by a gas blast at around 5 pm on August 29, trapping about a third of the 154 miners who were working underground.

Four local officials have been suspended from their posts in the wake of the accident.