A key suspect in an attempt to cover up a coal mine flooding
that trapped 57 miners, the country's deadliest mining accident
this year, was arrested on Friday, officials said.
The suspect, Zhang Shengsheng, who was in charge of mining and
work safety at the time of the May 18 accident at Xinjing Coal
Mine?in north China's Shanxi Province, fled after the accident.
Listed as the accident's most wanted fugitive by the Ministry of
Public Security, Zhang was arrested in Ejin Horo Banner, in north
China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Friday
along with his mistress. Zhang was the 10th person to be detained
in relation to the accident.
The mine's owner, Li Fuyuan, who had earlier been identified as
the chief manager, has also been arrested.
Three local officials have been suspended from their posts, and
police are still searching for one other suspect, mine labor
contractor Wang Laowu, the rescue headquarters said.
The suspects and local authorities in charge of work safety had
tried to cover up the accident by reporting that only five miners
had been trapped.
Rescuers were still battling to save the 57 trapped miners, and
"efforts will not stop until all the bodies are found," said Peng
Yuying, an official with the State Administration of Work
Safety.
By Friday lunchtime about 36,000 cubic meters of water had been
pumped out of the mine, lowering the water level beneath the shaft
by 1.2 meters, he said.
"But experts estimate that to pump all water out of the pit,
seven to 10 days are needed."
Miners who escaped the accident said the disaster could have
been avoided, as the mine showed signs of flooding six days before
the accident.
However, management ordered them to keep on mining, they
said.
(China Daily, Xinhua May 27, 2006)