123 missing in China mine disaster

At least 123 workers are missing after an explosion tore through a mine in China on Wednesday, the country's official news agency said. The blast happened in a mine in the city of Tangshan, east of Beijing in Hebei province. The official Xinhua news agency said that in addition to the miners who are missing, 27 others escaped.

Details are still emerging about the accident. This is the fifth major coal mine disaster reported in China this year. On Nov. 27 an explosion at the Dongfend coal mine in the northeastern part of the country killed at least 161 workers.

An explosion in the Shenlong coal mine on July 12 in the western Xinjiang region of China left at least 65 miners dead. On March 2, at least 65 people died in an explosion in the Xishui coal mine in Shanxi province. The blast killed 46 people in the mine itself and collapsed a wall in a neighbouring mine, killing another 19 miners. And on Feb 14, at least 203 people died in a gas explosion at the Sunjiawan mine in northeastern Liaoning province. The explosion happened 10 minutes after an earthquake shook the mine, reports CBC news. I.L.