The death toll from a northern Chinese coal mine disaster rose to 32 on Sunday, state media reported, the latest accident in a country that has a poor record of industrial safety.
While coal accounts for almost two-thirds of China's energy consumption, its mines are among the world's deadliest, due to lax enforcement of safety standards.
The latest disaster took place on Saturday in a small mine in the Inner Mongolia region, next to Mongolia, Xinhua news agency said.
A total of 181 workers were initially trapped underground and 149 of them were rescued, according to Xinhua.
This was the second major coal mine accident in the past week, coming at a time when the government told miners to resume production to tame high coal prices and meet winter demand.
In the first disaster, authorities confirmed on Friday that 21 people died after a coal mine blast in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
China has ordered all of the country's coal mines to conduct a safety overhaul in the past month, the deputy director of the country's work safety watchdog said on Friday.
An additional 33 people died in a gas explosion at a coal mine in the southwestern city of Chongqing on Oct. 31.
The accidents have alarmed regulators over the past month, as China gears up coal production to meet winter demand.
Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Nick Macfie
