The former Party boss of Shizong county in the south western province of Yunnan is being investigated for alleged corruption following the death of 43 miners in a massive gas explosion on 10 November 2011, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

There is a saying in China about the coal miners who go underground into the bowels of the earth to earn their living -- that they only become human again when they come back to the surface.

A massive coal and gas explosion at a privately-run coal mine in the south-western province of Yunnan has killed at least 34 miners, with nine still unaccounted for, the official media reported 13 November.

Eight coalminers have died and several others remain missing after an explosion underground in China, state media has reported.

Two industrial accidents in two days during the National Day holidays have left at least 28 workers dead and several others injured, official Chinese media reported.

Trade union officials in Shanxi, the traditional heartland of China’s coal industry, plan to establish a system of collective wage negotiations that will help boost miners’ incomes across the province, the official Xinhua news agency reported on 6 September.

A fire at coal mine in the eastern province of Shandong yesterday evening left 36 miners tapped underground, the official media reported today. By early morning, seven of the miners had been rescued. This follows two separate mine disasters at the weekend in the south-western provinces of Guizhou and Guangxi that left 42 miners trapped. Despite on-gong rescue attempts, the miners remain underground.

Two separate explosions at coal mines in Yunnan and Hunan on 17 May killed 15 miners, according to Chinese media reports. The first explosion, which killed at least eight miners, occurred on Tuesday morning at the Golden Bamboo Mountain mine in Hunan. There were reportedly 14 miners underground at the time. Less than 12 hours later, a gas and coal dust explosion at the Nanfeng mine in Yunnan killed seven miners

At least nine miners have died in an explosion at a coal mine in Yunnan’s resource-rich Fuyuan county on 16 March, the official media reported today. This follows a gas explosion at another coalmine in a neighbouring county on 12 March, which left 19 miners dead and 15 injured.

A Henan coal miner severely injured in an accident two years ago is now dependent on financial aid from friends and relatives because the mine and local government refuse to provide proper compensation.