An eruption of improperly drained gas killed 16 workers in an illegally operated coal mine in central China's Hunan Province Monday afternoon.

The accident occurred at about 5:05 PM on Monday at the Yinguangshi Coal Mine in Lianyuan City, as 37 people were in the mine. By 10:00 PM, 16 had been confirmed dead and 21 others rescued.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way, said Lianyuan Vice Mayor Chen Fengwen, who is overseeing the operations.

According to a deputy director of the Hunan Coal Mine Safety Supervision Bureau, the mine was operated illegally and without a permit although the supervision department had asked the owner of the mine to stop production several times.

China's rate of deaths per million tons of coal produced was 130 times that of the United States in 2003.

In September 2003, Coal People Magazine reported that China leads the world in miners' fatalities. The State Administrtion of Work Safety reported that there were 6,702 deaths in the industry in 2003. However, some officials acknowledge that the actual figure may be closer to 10,000. 

Some experts say that soaring demand that far exceeds the capacity of legitimate coal mines is encouraging illegal operators to keep unsafe mines open, as well as to hide information concerning accidents.

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn July 27, 2004)