A serious mine accident in Shanxi province has sparked another public outcry, carried by the official press in China, against the cover up of dangerous and illegal operations which have caused thousands of deaths and injuries in the country's mining industry.
The latest reports involved an accident which occurred on 4 May, 2002 in an unlicensed coal mine of Fuyuan in Hejin city, Shanxi province. After an explosion which trapped 21 miners in the shaft, the mine owner spent all his time destroying records of the miners and covering up scorch marks from the explosion, rather than seeking to rescue the miners. The news of the accident was leaked to the press only three days later, when the miners were all found dead. Two other miners were unaccounted for. The mine owner eventually reported the accident to the local authorities on 12 May. Even then he failed to inform the police about the trapped victims inside the shafts. According to the Jianghuai Morning Herald (30 May, 2002), subsequent investigations found that most of the victims died from lack of food and water and asphyxiation, rather than from drowning as was believed soon after the accident occurred. Families of each of the dead miners received Rmb 60,000 in compensation.
Many of the press reports condemned the cover-up attempts by the mine owner and local authorities; some recalling a similar cover-up attempt when a mining disaster broke out in Nandan in the southwestern province of Guangxi in July 2001, which killed 81 miners.
In a damning report about the cover up, the Zhongguo Qingnian Bao (3 June, 2002), revealed that when journalists began arriving at the scene to find out more about the accident, family members of the victims were moved daily to a different place far away from the mine and intimidated into not talking to reporters. At the same time, phone lines around the mine all suddenly broke down and for several days from 24 May, all the internet cafes in the city of Hejin were suddenly closed down due to "regular inspection and re-organization" carried out by the local authorities. Operators of all internet cafes were ordered not to let any journalists use their facilities to write or send any material.
According to the Jinghua Shi Bao (21 May, 2002), the deputy chief of the local public security bureau of Hejin city, who was responsible for investigating the accident, contacted the two survivors of the accident on 18 May and asked them to leave the city by offering them Rmb 3,000 as 'subsidies'.
Amidst the government campaign to tackle the appalling mine safety problem, severe sentences have been meted out to over 40 officials held responsible for the Nandan mine disaster. The Renmin Daily (7 June, 2002) reported that the Nanning city Intermediate People's Court had given a death sentence to the general secretary of the Party committee of Nandan,Wan Ruizhong, for the crime of covering up the 17 July, 2001 mine accident. Wan was also convicted of taking bribes between 1999 and 2001 amounting to Rmb 3 million. The county chief of Nandan, Tang Yusheng, and the mine owner, Li Dongming each received 20-year terms of imprisonment. Li was found to have amassed profits amounted to Rmb 264 million (USD 33 million). The deputy county chief, Wei Xueguang, and the deputy party secretary, Mo Zhuanglong, were sentenced to 14 and 11 years in jail respectively.
Despite the focus on the hazards of illegal coal mines, the state-owned coal mines have not fared much better in terms of safety record. According to Xinhua (10 June, 2002), 1,044 miners were killed in state-owned coal mines in 2001, representing a 26 percent rise from the previous year's figure. The record has deteriorated further in the first quarter of this year, with another 21.5% rise in accidents.
This latest expose represents the tip of the iceberg in terms of the acute problem of cover ups of mining accidents and casualties. The official records have registered an annual average of 5,000 deaths in China's coal mines for the last few years. The real figure is estimated to be much higher. In recent government attempts to tackle the notorious mine safety record, increasing reports from the government-controlled media offer glimpses of the scale of the cover ups. For example, according the Xinhua (29 May, 2002), it was found that a total of 14 accidents had taken place during the past four years in the coal mines in Hejin city, Shanxi province, which killed 95 miners. Only 12 percent of these deaths were registered in the government records. In another mining city of Fengyang in the southeastern province of Hunan, 42 accidents in the city's coal mines have killed 86 miners since 2000; but official records only reported 11 percent of the casualties.
Most of the miners in China's coal mines are rural migrants who are employed by a myriad of operators of illegal and dangerous small mines. Official records show that, despite a government crackdown on illegal mines, around 23,000 small coal mines are still operating in 2002. About 80% of these are illegal. The government has set the target of reducing coal mine deaths by 10 per cent this year. However, if the government target is based on its own official records, the campaign will be declaring yet another success based on only a small percentage reduction of the real number of workers dying each year in China's mines.
(Source: AFP, BBC, China Daily, People's Daily, Sina News, Xinhua.)
2002-06-13
The latest reports involved an accident which occurred on 4 May, 2002 in an unlicensed coal mine of Fuyuan in Hejin city, Shanxi province. After an explosion which trapped 21 miners in the shaft, the mine owner spent all his time destroying records of the miners and covering up scorch marks from the explosion, rather than seeking to rescue the miners. The news of the accident was leaked to the press only three days later, when the miners were all found dead. Two other miners were unaccounted for. The mine owner eventually reported the accident to the local authorities on 12 May. Even then he failed to inform the police about the trapped victims inside the shafts. According to the Jianghuai Morning Herald (30 May, 2002), subsequent investigations found that most of the victims died from lack of food and water and asphyxiation, rather than from drowning as was believed soon after the accident occurred. Families of each of the dead miners received Rmb 60,000 in compensation.
Many of the press reports condemned the cover-up attempts by the mine owner and local authorities; some recalling a similar cover-up attempt when a mining disaster broke out in Nandan in the southwestern province of Guangxi in July 2001, which killed 81 miners.
In a damning report about the cover up, the Zhongguo Qingnian Bao (3 June, 2002), revealed that when journalists began arriving at the scene to find out more about the accident, family members of the victims were moved daily to a different place far away from the mine and intimidated into not talking to reporters. At the same time, phone lines around the mine all suddenly broke down and for several days from 24 May, all the internet cafes in the city of Hejin were suddenly closed down due to "regular inspection and re-organization" carried out by the local authorities. Operators of all internet cafes were ordered not to let any journalists use their facilities to write or send any material.
According to the Jinghua Shi Bao (21 May, 2002), the deputy chief of the local public security bureau of Hejin city, who was responsible for investigating the accident, contacted the two survivors of the accident on 18 May and asked them to leave the city by offering them Rmb 3,000 as 'subsidies'.
Amidst the government campaign to tackle the appalling mine safety problem, severe sentences have been meted out to over 40 officials held responsible for the Nandan mine disaster. The Renmin Daily (7 June, 2002) reported that the Nanning city Intermediate People's Court had given a death sentence to the general secretary of the Party committee of Nandan,Wan Ruizhong, for the crime of covering up the 17 July, 2001 mine accident. Wan was also convicted of taking bribes between 1999 and 2001 amounting to Rmb 3 million. The county chief of Nandan, Tang Yusheng, and the mine owner, Li Dongming each received 20-year terms of imprisonment. Li was found to have amassed profits amounted to Rmb 264 million (USD 33 million). The deputy county chief, Wei Xueguang, and the deputy party secretary, Mo Zhuanglong, were sentenced to 14 and 11 years in jail respectively.
Despite the focus on the hazards of illegal coal mines, the state-owned coal mines have not fared much better in terms of safety record. According to Xinhua (10 June, 2002), 1,044 miners were killed in state-owned coal mines in 2001, representing a 26 percent rise from the previous year's figure. The record has deteriorated further in the first quarter of this year, with another 21.5% rise in accidents.
This latest expose represents the tip of the iceberg in terms of the acute problem of cover ups of mining accidents and casualties. The official records have registered an annual average of 5,000 deaths in China's coal mines for the last few years. The real figure is estimated to be much higher. In recent government attempts to tackle the notorious mine safety record, increasing reports from the government-controlled media offer glimpses of the scale of the cover ups. For example, according the Xinhua (29 May, 2002), it was found that a total of 14 accidents had taken place during the past four years in the coal mines in Hejin city, Shanxi province, which killed 95 miners. Only 12 percent of these deaths were registered in the government records. In another mining city of Fengyang in the southeastern province of Hunan, 42 accidents in the city's coal mines have killed 86 miners since 2000; but official records only reported 11 percent of the casualties.
Most of the miners in China's coal mines are rural migrants who are employed by a myriad of operators of illegal and dangerous small mines. Official records show that, despite a government crackdown on illegal mines, around 23,000 small coal mines are still operating in 2002. About 80% of these are illegal. The government has set the target of reducing coal mine deaths by 10 per cent this year. However, if the government target is based on its own official records, the campaign will be declaring yet another success based on only a small percentage reduction of the real number of workers dying each year in China's mines.
(Source: AFP, BBC, China Daily, People's Daily, Sina News, Xinhua.)
2002-06-13
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