A gas explosion in a crowded coal mine in China killed at least 60 people and left 88 missing with little hope of surviving the country's most serious mine accident in years. In another accident, six miners were killed in a gas leak in a grim reminder that the world's biggest mining industry is also the most dangerous, with thousands of people killed in explosions, floods and other mishaps every year. The explosion occurred on Wednesday night at the Daping mine in Xinmi in central Henan province after a rapid build-up of gas, when 446 miners were on duty underground, the official Xinhua news agency said. It said 298 miners escaped. "This accident is the most serious in recent years," deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, Sun Huashan, said on Thursday. State television said 60 people had been confirmed dead after the blast in a shaft 660-980 ft underground. The bodies of victims lay covered with green canvas at the mine's offices, Xinhua said, as distraught relatives awaited news. "All the people in the mine are at the spot, trying to rescue people. Families of the miners are very worried," said a mine official who declined to be identified. Emergency vehicles were waiting at the scene, where miners squatted by the curb awaiting news. Rescue workers had cordoned off the blast site to stop unauthorized people entering, state television said. "A detailed casualty list is unavailable. The rescue work is still going on," Xinhua said. But the missing were unlikely to come out alive. "According to experiences in past coal mine disasters, the hope for those missing miners to come out alive is very weak," Xinhua quoted Sun as saying. **DISMAL SAFETY RECORD*** China's mine and work safety record is dismal. Deaths from coal mine accidents hit 4,153 in the first nine months of this year, down 630 from the same period last year, the State Administration of Work Safety said. But analysts say the real figure could be higher, with many mine-related deaths going unreported. More than 1 million people are thought to work in underground mines, a Chinese newspaper has reported. The cause of the blast was under investigation but Xinhua said a monitoring system in the mine showed that before the blast the gas density increased from 1.49 percent to 40 percent in two and a half minutes and "expanded to the whole mine soon." Sun said the blast showed that the safety and management of China's mines was weak, particularly during a coal crunch that has lead to brownouts across the country. "The phenomenon of enterprises trying to produce beyond their means is prominent," Sun said, according to a transcript on Xinhua's Web site (www.xinhuanet.com.cn). In Chongqing municipality in the southwest, a coal mine gas leak killed six miners and left seven missing, Xinhua said. Seven miners were injured in the accident, the agency quoted a spokesman for the Chongqing municipal government as saying. The government has fumbled for ways to reduce the death toll from mining accidents, vowing to close small-scale unsafe, illegal mines and to raise safety standards. However, it has had trouble keeping illegal and dangerous mines closed because the lure of profits has led many small mine operations and local officials to quietly re-open dangerous pits. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Poor safety practices cause thousands of mining deaths each year in China. (AFP)