China police probe owner of mine where 74 died
TANGSHAN, China, Friday (Reuters)
Chinese police are investigating the owner and managers of a coal
mine where an explosion killed at least 74 people, and have also frozen
the colliery's bank accounts, state media said.
Wednesday's blast at the Liuguantun mine in Tangshan, northern Hebei
province, was the latest in a string of accidents to strike the world's
deadliest mining industry, making a mockery of safety campaigns which
have been largely ignored.
Booming demand for energy and high coal prices mean regulations are
flouted, production is pushed beyond safe limits and closed mines reopen
illegally.
"The mine's safety situation is very bad," mine worker Zheng Xinqqing,
whose older brother and cousin were killed in the explosion, told
Reuters on Friday.
"Work safety officials have never inspected our mine."
The formerly state-owned coal mine was privatised in 2002, and it was
being renovated when the explosion happened, according to the official
Xinhua news agency.
"The owner and managing staffs of Liuguantun Coal Mine ... have been
placed under police control for investigation," Xinhua said in a late
night report seen on Friday.
Thirty-two miners were still missing in freezing temperatures at the
colliery, 180 km (110 miles) east of Beijing.
Local people said most of the miners were from poorer, inland parts
of China.
Families of the dead would each be compensated 200,000 yuan
($24,770), state media said.
China has been struggling to clean up its mining industry, which
killed 2,700 people in the first half of 2005 alone, but a string of
accidents in recent weeks has shown that a succession of safety
campaigns has failed.
The government has been trying to close small mines to consolidate
the industry, demanded officials sever financial links with mines and
called for managers to head underground on each shift to check safety
standards.
Six miners were still missing after a coal mine flood on Thursday
trapped seven in Changchun, capital of northeastern Jilin province,
Xinhua added in a brief report.
China's foreign ministry on Thursday said the country paid great
attention to safety and put the blame on local authorities putting more
stress on production than workers' lives.
It also suggested it would not be an easy problem to solve.
"China is a vast country with a large population," spokesman Qin Gang
told a regular news conference without elaborating. |