Chinese miners work one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and are routinely killed in gruesome accidents in illegal and unregulated mines. Now, health officials in China are concerned by a deadly disease which, as human rights groups have been reporting for years, is affecting an increasing number of miners and other workers:

Thousands of miners and cement workers in China are dying each year from breathing in coal and cement dust, state media reports.

The lung disease known as “black lung” or pneumoconiosis accounts for three quarters of all occupational deaths, health officials said. [Full text]