(RTTNews) - Rescuers have found two more bodies in a coal mine in a northeastern Chinese city bordering Russia that was hit by a massive gas explosion, bringing the confirmed death toll to 106, a mine spokesman said Tuesday.

The new toll makes Saturday's tragedy in the city of Hegang in northeastern China the deadliest reported accident in the country's disaster-prone mining industry for more than four years.

"We have found two of the missing people," said a spokesman for the Xinxing Coal Mine, owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group, based in provincial capital Harbin. He said rescuers were still trying to reach the two remaining missing miners to confirm their fate but the leader of the rescue effort had already said that they were "definitely dead".
The blast occurred around 2.30 am local time Saturday (1830 GMT Friday) at the mine situated in Hegang city in China's Heilongjiang province, when 528 miners were working in the pit. The company had said that 399 miners escaped the accident in the mine, which is located over 248 miles (400 kms) east of the provincial capital of Harbin.

China has a dismal work safety record, with thousands of people dying every year in mines, factories and on construction sites. In the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal--the source of about 70 percent of China's energy needs--safety standards often ignored in Chinese coal mines, which are considered among the most dangerous in the world.

by RTT Staff Writer

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