Shi Jichun, vice governor of central China's Henan
Province, was given an administrative warning for his part in a
fatal colliery blast that left 148 miners dead in the province last
October.
The disciplinary action was announced Wednesday at an executive
meeting of the State Council, China's cabinet, which was presided
over by Premier Wen Jiabao.
The investigations of five other people in the case have been
transferred to judicial departments for further action, while
another 18 officials received various Party and government
disciplinary action depending on their level of responsibility for
the tragedy.
The accident took place at the Daping Coal Mine, part of the
state-owned Zhengzhou Coal Industry Group, on October 20. A total
of 446 miners were at work in the mine when the explosion occurred,
and 298 miners escaped. Some 21 were injured.
After the blast, the State Council immediately dispatched
investigators to the site and invited work safety experts to help
determine the causes of the accident.
Underground detectors had shown an abnormal gas concentration
before the disaster, but officials failed to respond in time.
The explosion that tore through the mine shaft as 446 miners
were working sent the gas density in the mine's atmosphere
rocketing to 40 percent in under three minutes, Xinhua News Agency
reported. Most of the miners suffocated on the toxic gas that
spewed from the coal bed and ignited, officials said in the days
following the blast.
The mine was the site of three previous fatal accidents, and
other mines from the Zhengzhou group have been hit frequently by
accidents, according to Xinhua.
Premier Wen admonished the coal mining sector to improve work
safety, including implementing a responsibility system, increasing
investment in safety equipment, upgrading production through
mechanization and improving supervision.
Explosions are the greatest risks in China's deadly coal mines,
where gas levels are high, leakages common and safety equipment and
procedures often inadequate.
Safety at collieries has lagged far behind the industry's
soaring growth in recent years, said Wang Xianzheng, head of the
State Ministry of Work Safety, at an annual working conference that
concluded on Wednesday.
State-owned coal mines, which produce more than 60 percent of
the nation's output, would need at least 5 billion yuan (US$602.4
million) to improve their safety facilities, he said.
(China.org.cn, China Daily January 20, 2005)