Coal mine blast kills 1, injures 4 in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / December 4, 2009) – A gas explosion had killed a coal miner and injured four more in the southern Philippines, police said Friday.

It said the miners were installing lights inside a coal mine tunnel in the town called Imelda in Zamboanga province late Thursday when the explosion occurred. One miner died instantly from the blast.

Police did not say the origin of the gas. Small scale miners have been tunneling in the area for coal. It was not immediately known whether the mining was illegal.

The blast was blamed on failures to follow safety rules, including a lack of required ventilation or fire control equipment.

In 2004, six miners were killed when a coal tunnel collapsed in Diplahan town in Zamboanga del Sur province. But the worst tragedy was in 1995, when a huge methane gas explosion ripped through a coal mine tunnel in nearby Malangas town, killing more than 100 people.

A fireball swept through nine kilometers of mines, and setting off other explosives which had been stockpiled inside the tunnel. (Mindanao Examiner)