A colliery explosion in the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region killed 12 miners on Thursday, the
day before 6 were arrested as being responsible for the fatal mine
flooding in Jilin
Province in April.
The gas blast occurred at 4:40 PM at Wanlong Colliery in Tuquan
County while 19 miners were working underground, local workplace
safety authorities in Hohhot said today.
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The mine was licensed but did not have gas monitoring facilities,
according to officials, and the cause of the accident is still
under investigation.
Six people held accountable for the flooding at Tengda Coal
Mine, Jiaohe on April 24 that killed 29 with one still missing were
confirmed to have been arrested on Friday while victims' families
each received 200,000 yuan (US$24,100) in compensation.
The detainees are the owner of neighboring Ji'an Coal Mine Cao
Huijie, his assistant Cao Huizhong, production manager Feng Guobao,
technology manager Liu Jincheng and another two directors on duty
Li Yunpeng and Sun Xinyuan.
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Local police alleged that they had violated production safety law
by hiding information about a water leak that spilled into the
shaft of Tengda after building up for two days, so delaying rescue
efforts for the 69 miners trapped underground.
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Both mines were licensed and privately owned. Tengda had 200 miners
and an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons of coal, while
Ji'an had 50 miners and an annual capacity of 15,000 tons.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2005)