Local authorities said there's little hope the miners will survive, according to Xinhua. The authorities noted the privately run tungsten mine has been operating without a business license, Xinhua is reporting.
The mine cave-in is the latest in a spate of accidents in China's mining industry, which has been running full-tilt to fuel the country's booming economy. A Dec. 7 gas explosion in the Liuguantun mine in Tangshan, a city in north China's Hebei Province, killed 91 people and left 17 others still missing, according to the most recent statistics quoted by Xinhua.
Several days after the Liuguantun incident, China's top workplace safety official vowed to shut down at least 4,000 mines that fall short of safety standards by the end of the year.
So far this year, 5,491 coal miners have died in mine accidents 206 more than last year according to government statistics quoted by Xinhua news agency.
