9 detained for SW China mine blast

KUNMING - Nine people have been arrested after a coal mine gas explosion that killed 14 mine workers Monday in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said Wednesday.

14 dead in SW China coal mine gas blast

Among the nine are investors and managers of the Hongtutian Coal Mine in Fuyuan County in Qujing City, the city's government said in a press release.

The accident happened at around 12:30 a.m. Monday in a pit of the privately run Hongtutian Coal Mine when 56 miners were underground. The other 42 escaped without injuries, it said.

Meanwhile, 10 local officials have been removed or suspended from their posts pending further investigation.

Qujing is a major coal production base in eastern Yunnan Province.

A mine flood on April 7 trapped 22 miners in the pit of a coal mine in Qujing's outer Qilin District. Twenty-one have been confirmed dead.