[Broadcast on 16 February 2006]

Qitaihe mine owner rushes families of accident victims into compensation agreement

With the sound of a large explosion on the evening of 27 November last year, tragedy struck at the Qitaihe Dongfeng coal mine of the Longmei Group in Heilongjiang province, and 171 miners trapped at the coal face were killed. For the families of these men, a period of interminable sorrow had begun. In the previous programme, we heard from the wife and daughter of one of the miners who died in the explosion. We heard that immediately after the accident, the company would not allow anyone to negotiate an agreement on compensation. The mining company decided on its own that the compensation for each life lost in the accident was 200,000 yuan (about US$24,000).

At the same time, the company offered another 10,000 yuan (about US$1,220) to the families but with conditions: The families were told to sign the compensation agreement immediately after identifying the body of their family member. If they signed the agreement immediately, they would receive the full 10,000 yuan. If they needed to come back later to discuss anything, 3,000 yuan would be deducted each day. Under the pressure of getting the entire, additional 10,000 yuan, the families signed the agreement against their will. The following is the second part of my conversation with the daughter of one miner.

Han Dongfang (hereafter Han): How many days were there between the time you were notified of the accident and the day you signed the (compensation) agreement?

Miner's daughter: They notified my family on 30 November and later in the afternoon on that day, we went to see my father. The corpse that we were asked to identify was my father. If after we identified him, we signed on the first day, then we would get an additional 10,000 yuan. If we didn't sign on the first day, it would be 3,000 less on the second day and 3,000 less again on the following day, so that at the end there would be nothing left of this 10,000 yuan.

Han: Once you had identified the body, they wanted you to sign the agreement or how was it?

Miner's daughter: They asked us to sign the agreements as soon as we came back from identifying the bodies in the crematorium. At that time my younger sister was taking care of my mother. My mother was in hospital. My relatives were all there at the time. My uncle, my father's elder brother, and the others.

Han: Did your grandmother, your father's mother, did she go?

Miner's daughter: My grandmother didn't go. My uncle, my father's elder brother, represented my grandmother and I was there for my family. We didn't have any kind of negotiations. They only said how many years my father had worked for the company and that his average wages were 1,000 yuan a month (about US$122), so that added altogether my father was should get this much money. So if you identified the body today and cremated it the next day, then you would get an additional 10,000 yuan. That is, 230,000 yuan would become 240,000 yuan. If you didn't carry out the cremation, then that was 3,000 yuan less. And if you didn't cremate on the third day, that is another 3,000 less. After three days, there would be nothing left of the 10,000 yuan. At that time, my mother was in the hospital, so my uncle was acting as head of the family.

Han: Were you satisfied with this compensation?

Miner's daughter: We weren't really satisfied.

Han: What is the main reason that you weren't satisfied?

Miner's daughter: We think that they have given us too little, because my father started working here in 1985, so that is already more than 20 years. It's really too little.

Han: Did you raise this point at the beginning, that you would like them to raise the level of compensation?

Miner's daughter: We brought it up at the beginning. But they said this is what you are entitled to.

Han: In the beginning when you raised this point, do you say how much you thought you should get?

Miner's daughter: In the beginning, we had no idea what the standard payout was. They said that the level had been set for all domestic mine accidents, and it was this much. If an individual calculation did not amount to 200,000 yuan, they would still give 200,000 yuan and for those that exceeded 200,000 yuan, they would pay all of it.

Han: So you did not give them a specific amount?

Miner's daughter: No, we didn't.

Han: So, would you have received the 10,000 yuan if you hadn't carried out the cremation?

Miner's daughter: I'm not sure. We heard that there were many who did not agree to cremate the bodies. If you couldn't identify the body, you couldn't identify it. They said that in that case they would give more money.

Han: What does that mean, they gave more?

Miner's daughter:  Some people could not identify the body. They couldn't say that this definitely was the person. In some cases, there was only one leg. They then gave more.

Han: The rest of the body was gone?

Miner's daughter: That's right. There was only a leg left, so the family couldn't identify him. They then gave more money and the family agreed to identify it.

Han: So, your family was not satisfied with the compensation?

Miner's daughter: That's right.

Han: Then why did you sign the agreement in the beginning?

Miner's daughter: At that time, I was the only child, the only person from our family and I didn't understand. Well, there was my uncle, my father's elder brother. He said they had reported it on television and he said they reported (compensation of) 200,000 yuan. Even if we disagreed, that was all they were giving.

Han: What does your uncle do?

Miner's daughter: He also works down in the mine.

Han: Does he understand the laws and regulations related to all of this?

Miner's daughter: None of us understand this. At that time, the TV was reporting that they were paying 200,000 yuan. There were a lot of people who did sign it, so we just followed them and signed it. At the time, we said that my sister was still young and my mother was ill, so it seemed they should give me a job, but they didn't agree. They said they didn't have that kind of document.

Han: At that time, who was it that came to your place and asked you to sign this agreement?

Miner's daughter: I think that it was someone from the local coal mining bureau.

Miner's daughter: Was that the Qitaihe Mining Bureau?

Miner's daughter: Correct.

Han: Who else was in this group of people?

Miner's daughter: I'm not sure. At any rate, they said they were from the mining bureau and their expertise was in work-related deaths and accidents.

Han: What is your family going to do now? Have you calculated how long you can live on this money? What about your mother?

Miner's daughter: If we're thrifty, we can make it. My mother is only a little more than 40 now. She has a chronic illness and spends a lot of injections and medicines. At any rate, we will just spend a little less (on other things).

This is the end of this section of the broadcast.