18 Die in Collapse of China Tin Mine

A worked-out tin mine collapsed in southern China, killing at least 18 peasants who paid local officials an illegal fee for the right to break the law and dig in the shaft, the official China Legal News reported Saturday.

The newspaper said the accident occurred May 24 at a mine on Mt. Xianhua, about 1,100 miles south of Beijing in Hunan province.

The newspaper said the worked-out mine was closed in 1984, but peasants blasted open an iron door welded over the entrance to excavate pillars of ore that had been left as a safety measure to prevent the mine from collapsing.