12 die in Chinese coal mine accident, five held

BEIJING - Five coal mine executives were detained after 12 people died in an explosion in a mine in north China’s Shanxi province, authorities said Monday.

The accident occurred at 11.30 p.m. Sunday when 16 miners were working in a shaft in the Donggou Colliery Co. Ltd. in Jiexiu city, said a spokesman with the Shanxi Provincial Work Safety Administration, Xinhua reported.

The mine was expanding its annual production capacity from the authorised 30 tonnes. The workers violated a safety rule that prohibited the demolition of a wall between the shaft and a disused area of the mine where the gas was accumulated in high density, the spokesman said.

The four survivors were under observation in hospital.