BEIJING: Eighteen people were killed and three injured in an explosion at a mine in central China, an official said Saturday, in the latest deadly accident to hit the nation's coal industry. The tragedy struck Friday afternoon at a mine in Chenzhou city in Hunan province when a detonator and explosives warehouse blew up, an employee at the city's coal industry bureau, who would only give his surname Li, told. "Up to this morning we have confirmed there are 18 dead and three injured," he said. Li said the victims were in dormitories next to the warehouse at the time of the explosion.According to the official Xinhua news agency, a further two people were missing, and police have said the detonators and explosives might have been illegally bought and stored. China's coalmines are notoriously dangerous. Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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