An eruption of improperly drained gas killed 16 workers in an
illegally operated coal mine in central China's Hunan
Province Monday afternoon.
The accident occurred at about 5:05 PM on Monday at the
Yinguangshi Coal Mine in Lianyuan City, as 37 people were in the
mine. By 10:00 PM, 16 had been confirmed dead and 21 others
rescued.
An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way,
said Lianyuan Vice Mayor Chen Fengwen, who is overseeing the
operations.
According to a deputy director of the Hunan Coal Mine Safety
Supervision Bureau, the mine was operated illegally and without a
permit although the supervision department had asked the owner of
the mine to stop production several times.
China's rate of deaths per million tons of coal produced was 130
times that of the United States in 2003.
In September 2003, Coal People Magazine reported that
China leads the world in miners' fatalities. The State
Administrtion of Work Safety reported that there were 6,702 deaths
in the industry in 2003. However, some officials?acknowledge
that the actual figure may be closer to 10,000.?
Some experts say that soaring demand that far exceeds the
capacity of legitimate coal mines is encouraging illegal operators
to keep unsafe mines open, as well as to hide information
concerning accidents.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn July 27, 2004)
