By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A warehouse explosion killed 18 people and injured three at a coal mine in central China, a provincial official said Saturday.
State television reported that six people were injured in the blast in the remote mountainous Hunan province Friday afternoon that also left two missing.
A man surnamed Hu with the Hunan provincial work safety bureau said it was a privately run illegal mine and police were investigating where the explosives came from. He would not give more details, saying the explosion was still under investigation.
A CCTV report said one shareholder of the mine is already "under police control" and authorities are seeking the other owners.
Police are investigating whether the explosives were stored illegally in the warehouse at the Daling mine in Yongxing county, the report said.