Thirty-eight miners were killed in three separate coal mine gas blasts in the past two days.
As of 14 March, 18 miners have been found dead at the Rongsheng Colliery in Jiudonggou Village in Otog Banner in Inner Mongolia, north China. At the time of the accident on 13 March, 34 miners were working in the pit. Thirteen miners have been rescued and three others are still missing.
Li Zhongfu, the owner of the Rongsheng Colliery, is in police custody and the coal mine's accounts have been frozen. The coal mine is privately-owned with 900,000 tons of annual production capacity.
When the accident occurred, the Otog Banner government was closing down illegal mines in the area. Until 14 March, the local government has blown up 76 illegal small mines, consisting of 232 pits, which have violated safety requirements.
Wang Wangwang, head of the Inner Mongolia Coal Industry Bureau, told Xinhua that there are now 1,310 coal mines in Inner Mongolia and 810 illegal small coal mines will be closed down due to safety concern by the end of May.
Another coal mine explosion also occurred yesterday at Taihe Coal Mine in Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province, in northeastern China. A total of 16 miners were working underground when the blast went off. Nine were killed and seven others were rescued. In November last year, 171 miners were killed in state-owned Dongfeng Coal Mine, which is also in Qitaihe City.
On 12 March, all 11 workers were killed after being trapped underground by a gas explosion which caused a cave-in at the county-owned Gaoping Colliery in Yongxing County, Hunan Province, central China.
Sources: Xinhua News Agency (14 March 2006), China Daily (14 March 2006)
14 March 2006