4 workers die in gold mine blast in ComVal

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - At least four people were killed in an explosion inside a gold mine in Mindanao yesterday, health authorities said today.

The victims were male miners working inside a shaft at the gold- rich village of Pamintaran, Maragusan town, in Mindanao's Compostela Valley province, some 1,000 km southeast of capital Manila, hospital records revealed.

A staff of the state-run Davao Regional Hospital (DRH) in Tagum City, who requested anonymity, said the victims apparently succumbed to gas poisoning after a dynamite explosion in an adjacent tunnel around 8:30 p.m. local time.

The DRH staff also provided records about the identities of the casualties.

Compostela Valley is a minerals-rich area in southern Philippines and about 50,000 people are dependent on small-scale mining.

Landslides, cave-ins and accidents involving industrial explosives are common due to unregulated mining operations.