17 miners dead in Yunnan accident

Seventeen people have been confirmed dead after a coal mine accident in Fuyuan County in southwest China's Yunnan Province Wednesday, according to the local government.

At 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, an accident of coal and gas outburst happened in a shaft of the Shangchang Coal Mine in Huangnihe township of Fuyuan, said the press office of the county government.

Sixty-six miners were underground when the mishap occurred and 49 of them escaped unscathed from the mine, according to preliminary investigation.