A gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China yesterday, trapping as many as 170 miners in what could be the worst disaster to hit the world?s most dangerous mining industry in years.

At least 123 miners escaped from the state-owned Chenjiashan Coalmine in Shaanxi province after yesterday morning?s explosion, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Earlier, up to 188 miners were believed to have been trapped, but the latest report from Xinhua and other state media revised that down to 170.

Rescue workers had advanced several hundred meters into the mine but were blocked by heavy smoke, state media said. Doctors from nine hospitals were taking part in the rescue.

?Workers at the mouth of the Chenjiashan coal mine discovered thick smoke pouring out of ventilation shafts, and that communication with the inside of the mine had been cut off?, said the Web site of the People?s Daily, mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.

Some of the escaped miners had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, Xinhua said. An official contacted at the mine, near the city of Tongchuan about 740 km southwest of Beijing, said he had no information about the cause of the blast or casualties. Several other government officials declined to comment.

Tougher inspections

Yesterday?s blast occurred two days after the Shaanxi government ordered tougher mine inspections and closure of any mines with insufficient or substandard ventilation. A report on that order was posted on the Shaanxi government Web site.

China?s coal mine industry, which provides the primary fuel for the world?s seventh-biggest economy, has a dismal safety record that has been grimly underscored by a series of major accidents this year.

A coal mine blast in the central province of Henan this month killed 33 miners. That followed an October explosion, also in Henan, that killed 148 miners.

On-line commenters on Xinhua?s Web site, bemoaned the state of an industry that killed 4,153 workers in the first nine months of this year.

?Why do these accidents keep happening one after another? Why don?t the relevant authorities do something about it? Why don?t we just kill a bunch of officials? Are Chinese people?s lives worth less than money?? asked one person in an anonymous posting to the site.

Beijing has tried to clamp down on safety violations at many mines, and official figures show coal mine deaths in the first nine months were down by 630, more than 13 percent, from the same period a year earlier.

The Chenjiashan mine, administered by the Tongchuan Mining Administration, is capable of producing 2.3 million tonnes of coal a year, a Chinese-language Xinhua report said. An English Xinhua report had earlier reported the mine had capacity of 1.3 million tonnes a year.

Scott Hillis