Reuters AlertNet Lite - China coal mine accident death tolls rise to 81

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China coal mine accident death tolls rise to 81

16 Nov 2006 03:24:17 GMT
Source: Reuters

BEIJING, Nov 16 (Reuters) - All 34 coal miners trapped underground on Sunday in north China after explosives caught fire have been confirmed dead, state media said on Thursday, bringing the death toll from two recent accidents to 81. The miners suffocated after more than four tons of illegally stored explosives caught fire, generating toxic gas, at the Nanshan Colliery in Shanxi province, where a quarter of China's coal is produced.

All 47 miners trapped by a Nov. 5 gas blast at the Jiaojiazhai coal mine, also in Shanxi, had been confirmed dead with one last body found on Thursday, Xinhua news agency said.

The almost daily series of accidents highlights China's uphill battle to clean up its mining industry while struggling to meet booming demand and high prices for coal, which fuels about 70 percent of its energy consumption.

In the rush for profits, safety regulations are often ignored, production is pushed beyond limits and dangerous mines that have been shut down are reopened illegally.

Zhao Tiechui, head of China's coal mine safety watchdog, criticised local officials for lax supervision of the village-run Nanshan Colliery, whose licences had expired nearly a year ago and whose owner and managers had fled the scene. He warned officials across the country against allowing closed mines to restart production, the Beijing News said.

Many grassroots officials have secretly flouted orders to close mines as they don't want to lose tax revenue and, in some cases, dividends from their own stakes in the mines.

On Wednesday, the New York-based group, Human Rights in China (HRIC), urged China to examine the case of a private mine owner in the southwestern province of Guizhou whose colliery, it said, was taken away from him after he refused to give free dividends to local officials.

"HRIC also urges the Chinese authorities to undertake a comprehensive review of official abuse of power and corruption that has contributed to life-threatening conditions in mine operations nationwide," it said in a faxed statement.

Despite a 22 percent decline in fatalities from a year earlier, a total of 3,726 miners died in over 2,300 floods, blasts and other accidents in the world's deadliest coal mining industry in the first 10 months of 2006.

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Last updated:Thu Nov 16 03:25:41 2006