Seven killed in China mine accident

Beijing, Dec 16: At least seven workers were killed and three others injured in an accident at a coal mine in southwestern China, state media reported on Sunday.

The accident took place on Saturday in Chongqing municipality when the connecting segment of a mining skip broke, causing it to slide down the inclined shaft, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Seven miners working in the shaft were killed.

The three injured miners have been rushed to a hospital, the report said. Accidents in coal mines are common in China.

However, the number of deaths have reduced at mines in recent years. In October, 8 miners were killed after a rock burst ripped through a coal mine in Yuncheng county of Shangdong province.

In June, a powerful explosion in an iron mine in country's northeast Liaoning province claimed the lives of 11 workers and left nine others injured.

Similarly in May, a methane gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in central China's Hunan province, killing at least five workers.