Mine explosion kills 46 in China

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A powerful gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China's Shanxi province killed at least 46 people and left at least 50 others trapped early Thursday, local safety officials said, according to China's Xinhua news agency.

According to the Web site for China's State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, up to 74 miners have been trapped underground.

The mining accident took place in the village of Zuomu, near Linfen, according to Xinhua.

Mine disasters are common in China. There were nearly 2,000 coal mining accidents through October of this year alone, which left more than 3,000 people dead, according to earlier reports published by Xinhua.

Some 6,300 died in mining accidents in 2003. In early November, a few dozen coal miners were killed in a gas leak in a coal mine in southwest China's Guizhou province.

And in August, heavy rains poured into a coal mine in east China's Shandong province, trapping more than 170 miners beneath the surface, Xinhua reported. E-mail to a friend