Leading officials of Lushan County, in central China's Henan
Province, have been temporarily relieved of their posts
following the preliminary investigation into a coal mine blast that
killed 33 miners and injured six.
The officials include Huang Yongmin, deputy head of Lushan
County; Wang Changhai, vice director of the city's justice bureau;
and Pei Zhide, deputy warden of Lushan Prison. According to the
China News Service, the mine was co-owned by the prison and justice
bureau. The officials are under investigation for mismanagement
resulting in the illegal transfer of resources.
Additional penalties will be administered following further
investigation, according to a decision issued Monday by the
Pingdingshan City Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
The local public security bureau has already detained Cheng
Jiancheng, the private owner of the mine, and Li Wei, a
subcontractor.
The blast occurred at the Xinsheng Coal Mine in Lushan County,
Pingdingshan City, on November 11. The State Council and Henan
provincial government sent teams to Pingdingshan to investigate the
incident.
The initial investigation showed that the mine had been
officially shut down and was being operated without a license. The
government of Lushan County is being held responsible for poor
management and lack of supervision.
Pingdingshan, a major coal mining area, is adjacent to the Xinmi
coal mining district where 148 miners lost their lives on October
20 in one of the worst mining accidents in years.
The mining fatality rate in China in 2003 was 4.0 people per
million tons of coal. The rates in Russia and South Africa were
0.34 and 0.13 per million tons, while the average fatality rate in
developed countries was 0.4.
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(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn November 23, 2004)