A rescue worker carries a trapped miner out of the Dongfeng Coal Mine following a blast which killed at least 134 in Qitaihe City of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, November 2005 (epa)
5 January 2006 -- The Chinese government is closing 5,290 coal mines in a safety crackdown. More than 5,000 Chinese coal miners die each year, making the Chinese mining industry the deadliest in the world.