BEIJING (Reuters) - Brake failures on two mine elevators killed 26 Chinese workers on Thursday and injured five, as the elevator cages taking them to work plunged to the bottom of a tin ore mine in southern China, state media said.

An investigation into the accident on the last day of China's week-long National Day holiday was under way, Xinhua news agency said.

China's mines are the deadliest in the world, due to lax safety standards and a rush to feed demand from a robust economy. More than 3,000 people died in coal mine accidents in 2008 alone.

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