Beijing, May 12 (EFE).- A gas explosion in a coal mine in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan killed at least 27 miners and injured 16, according to local authorities cited by the state-run Xinhua news agency. The accident occurred about 6 a.m. GMT on Saturday in the Taozigou mine near the city of Luzhou, authorities said, adding that an investigation had been opened to determine the cause of the blast. So far, 81 miners have been rescued but 16 of them are injured to varying degrees and are receiving treatment in local hospitals, authorities said.

An Indian parliamentary panel report on Tuesday urged the scrapping of "illegal" allocations of coal mines between 1993 to 2010 to private firms, creating fresh uncertainty in the key energy sector. The report added fuel to an ongoing row, dubbed "Coalgate" by the media, over allocation without competitive bidding of coal resources on which Asia's third-largest economy relies to meet over half of its vast energy needs.

Beijing, Apr 22 (EFE).- Eighteen workers died and another 12 were injured in a coal-mine explosion over the weekend in northeastern China, official media reported Monday. The blast occurred at 1:26 p.m. Saturday at the Qingxing Mine in the northeastern province of Jilin, which borders on North Korea. When the explosion occurred, 73 miners were at work down in the mineshafts, though about 50 were able to get out unscathed. The injured miners are hospitalized but their lives are not in danger, local authorities said.

Pakistan and Bulgaria should expand and strengthen their bilateral relations in various fields including economy, trade, culture and education, a Bulgarian diplomat said Wednesday. The two countries should expand political consultations while Pakistan can make use of Bulgaria’s solid experience in coal power generation to exploit Thar Coal, said Daniel Hristov, Head of Consular Department, Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria. Talking to Senior Vice Chairman of Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers' Association (PVMA) Atif Ikram Sheikh, he said that we needs to promote economic ties