The death toll from the coal mine explosion in northeast China
had risen to 213 by 1:00 PM yesterday. The search for the last
missing miner is still ongoing, an official in charge of dealing
with the accident's aftermath told a news briefing on Sunday.
Thirty miners were rescued from the gas explosion that occurred
in Sunjiawan Coal Mine in Fuxin, Liaoning Province last Monday,
said a local official, Zhou Lixian.
The identities of 210 victims have been confirmed and 119 of
them have been cremated or buried, according to Zhou.
Meanwhile, compensation began to be paid on Saturday, with the
families of eight victims having received a total of 200,480 yuan
(US$24,242) from insurance companies yesterday, Xinhua
reported.
A special team has been organized by the State Council to
investigate the cause of the explosion.
The disaster occurred around 3:00 PM last Monday about 242
metres underground. Three hundred and thirty of the 574 miners on
duty escaped, leaving 244 trapped.
Sunjiawan Coal Mine, with a total of 3,100 workers, is run by
the Fuxin Coal Industry Group. All of their coal mines have been
ordered to suspend production for safety overhauls.
Social donations of more than 15 million yuan (US$1.8 million)
are being given to relatives of the casualties, including 1 million
yuan (US$120,000) from the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions.
The frequent occurrence of coal mine blasts in China have
sounded alarms about levels of safety in the industry.
Xinhua yesterday attributed frequent mining accidents to unsafe
working practices and disregard for safety standards whilst seeking
profits.
To prevent such disasters from recurring, the leading coal
producing province of Shanxi has also vowed to close all of its
small coal mines with annual production below 90,000 tons by the
end of this year.
Tougher measures are being taken to control and regulate its
coal industry so as to guarantee mine safety. Under the plan, the
province will eventually limit the total number of coal mines to
about 3,000 and will no longer approve new mines that produce less
than 300,000 tons a year.
Last year, Shanxi reformed coal excavation methods in its 2,256
coal mines, about 53.8 percent of the province's total.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2005)