Mine shaft fire halts search for bodies
- Source: Global Times
- [02:01 July 19 2010]
- Comments
By Zou Le
Rescuers trying to recover the bodies of 28 coal miners killed by an electrical fire inside a coal shaft in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province had to suspend their recovery operation Sunday after the fire blazed out of control.
Authorities dispatched two fire engines and special devices were installed to detect gases and monitor the underground air quality every hour, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The fire broke out at the privately owned Xiaonangou coalmine in Sangshuping township of Hanchen Saturday evening. All 28 miners working in the shaft were killed, the provincial government announced in a statement earlier.
Rescuers had retrieved the bodies of five miners Sunday prior to suspension of the recovery mission, Xinhua said, adding that all of the miners had been identified. Their names have not yet been publicly disclosed.
According to the report, 15 miners were from Hubei Province, 10 were from Shaanxi, two were from Shandong Province and another one came from Hebei.
Police have detained the coalmine owner since the accident.
The Xiaonangou coalmine, which belongs to the Xinxin Mining Industry Company in Hanchen, was still under construction before going into full production, according to Xinhua.
The mine has an estimated production capacity of 90,000 tons every year after undergoing a reconstruction.
Ye Zhanping, the Party secretary of Yunxi county in Hubei Province, home to 15 of the mining victims, sent a team of labor experts and lawyers to Shaanxi to deal with the aftermath of the accident and safeguard workers' rights, according to the Chinese Business View.
Despite the government's efforts to promote coalmine safety in recent years, accidents inevitably occur.
In a separate coalmine accident, eight miners died when a blaze engulfed a mine in central Henan Province Saturday morning, Xinhua reported.
In still another accident, 13 miners have been trapped underground and three others have been lifted to safety after a coalmine in Gansu Province flooded Sunday, local authorities said.
Sixteen miners were working in the shaft when the accident happened at the Jijitaizi Coal Mine in Jinta county, Jiuquan, at 11: 30 am, according to the provincial work safety bureau.
The mine is under construction. Rescue operations are underway.
The coalmine safety issue in China, the world's largest coal producer, remains grim despite improvements, Huang Yi, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
The death toll in the industry dropped from 7,000 in 2003 to 2,631 in 2009 while coal production increased from 1.3 billion tons to 3 billion tons during the period. The death toll for every 1 million tons of coal production dropped from 4.97 to 0.86, according to government statistics.
