The authorities say a miner died when explosives carried by protesting workers went off accidentally.

Later, a student was shot dead during clashes between police and demonstrators in Ventilla, near the country's main city, La Paz.

The deaths come on the 11th day of a general strike against the government of President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

There have been three weeks of protests in Bolivia by workers who are demanding the suspension of plans to export natural gas, the resignation of the president and a change in the government's economic policies.