No survivors found as bodies of 16 killed in gas leak at coal mine in central China recovered

BEIJING – BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese state news agency is reporting that no survivors have been found among the 16 miners trapped by a lethal gas leak in a coal mine in central China four days ago.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Friday that workers had retrieved 16 bodies from the Sanyuandong Coal Mine in Dengfeng in central China's Henan province.

It said that when the leak happened, 111 other miners scrambled to safety, but that the 16 were trapped.

Calls to the Dengfeng government office ran unanswered early Monday.

In recent years, China has been trying to improve the safety of its mining industry, the world's deadliest, but an unknown number of illegal mines still exist to profit from the country's huge appetite for power.