The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Beijing

The death toll in a massive gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China rose to 105 Friday, the government's Xinhua News Agency said, making it the nation's second deadliest mining disaster this year. Rescuers from among 15 crews sent to the mine in Shanxi province's Hongtong county were pumping out deadly carbon monoxide from a shaft in hopes of finding survivors or recovering additional bodies, the central government's State Administration of Workplace Safety said on its Web site. The exact number of miners underground at the time of Wednesday's accident was still unclear. Citing mine officials, Xinhua on Friday raised the figure to about 120 from the previously reported 111. State broadcaster CCTV said the mine owner and its manager had been detained by police for questioning.