A gas leak at a coal mine in southwest China killed six people Sunday and injured 12 others, state media reported.
The accident occurred on the same day that the State Administration of Work Safety announced a new nationwide inspection campaign aimed at preventing deadly accidents, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The latest gas leak happened around 1:20 am on Sunday (1720 GMT Saturday) at the mine outside the city of Zunyi in Guizhou Province, Xinhua said.
At the time of the accident 35 people were working in the mine, the report said. One died underground, 22 escaped and 12 had to be rescued, but five of them died in hospital, Xinhua said.
Police were investigating the cause of the accident, it added, providing no further details about the gas leak.
China's vast coal mining industry is notoriously accident-prone due to lax regulation, corruption and inefficiency as mines rush to meet soaring demand.
A State Administration of Work Safety spokesman said on Sunday the seven-week nationwide campaign, which starts on October 10, will check whether smaller coal mines using outdated equipment have shut down as ordered.
Last year 2,631 miners were killed, according to official statistics, but independent labour groups say the true figure could be much higher as many accidents are covered up to avoid costly closures.
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