The families of all miners killed in a fatal blast in north China's Hebei Province Wednesday will be compensated at least 200,000 yuan (about 25,000 US dollars) each, the rescue operation headquarters said Thursday.

Owners of the Liuguantun coalmine, where the gas explosion has claimed the lives of 74 miners and left 32 missing underground, have allocated 20 million yuan (2.5 million US dollars) for the compensation.

The amount of the compensation was fixed in accordance with a regulation launched in March by the local government on coal mine safety accidents.

However, the figure will be increased by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan depending on the economic conditions of the victims' families, the headquarters said.

The blast went off at around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday in Kaiping District of Tangshan city, possibly due to a gas explosion. The coal mine management said that 82 miners got out safely shortly after the explosion.

More than 100 rescuers continued searching for the 32 trapped miners but their efforts were thwarted Thursday as the density of carbon monoxide in the shaft was 100 times above the safety standard and almost approached the the explosion limit, according to the headquarters.

The coalmine, formerly state-owned and with a designed annual production capacity of 300,000 tons, was privatized in 2002.

(Source: Xinhua)