Safety failures found in pit

• Source: Global Times
• [02:28 November 24 2009]
• Comments

A seriously injured miner is looked after by his wife at a hospital Monday in the city of Hegang, in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Photo: AFP

By Song Shengxia

A dozen more deaths were confirmed Monday from a coal mine blast over the weekend, and government officials determined that negligence was to blame, vowing to punishing those responsible.

The additional deaths raised the toll to 104, and hope remained slim late last night for the remaining four miners trapped in Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China.

At the first meeting of the State Council Monday to investigate the cause of the explosion, Luo Lin, director of the State Administration of Work Safety and head of the investigation team, said the disaster occurred in the absence of proper safety protocols – namely the designation of someone to oversee safety, according to the China News Service.

"The mine has not carried out serious and thorough inspections to clear up any potential hazards,"he said, adding that the management had failed to evacuate the workers promptly after high gas intensity was detected in the pit.

The explosion occurred at around 2:30 am Saturday at the Xinxing Coal Mine, operated under a subsidiary of the State-owned Longmei Mining Holding Group in Hegang. Among the 528 miners who were working in the pit when the blast occurred, 420 escaped.

The rescue operation was ongoing Monday, but sources at the scene conceded that the odds of getting to any of the remaining men in time were slim.

Further complicating the investigation is the fact that it came just three days after provincial coal mine safety authorities sent a task force to examine the safety of the mine and no problems were reported.

Last month, in a special inspection by State work-safety authorities, the Hegang subsidiary was found to be using more than 4,200 pieces of uncertified equipment.

Neither inspection resulted in the mine owners rectifying their faulty operations.

The country's supreme prosecutors are already in Hegang to probe any power abuse or official misconduct behind the blast.

 Three executives of the mine were removed from their posts Sunday. The government did not indicate if more officials would be held responsible.

Based on the preliminary investigation following the blast, Luo cited an inappropriate mining layout, poor management and organization in the shaft, and overloaded operation of the mine as being to blame for the blast.