At least four people have been detained for the coal mine fire in which 13 workers are thought to have died in Heilongjiang province last Wednesday.

The four included a legal official, deputy director and chief engineer of the Taiyuan mine in Hegang, as well as a financier.

Police have sealed up the mine and are still looking for another financier, Jin Yongfu, who is still at large, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

Authorities in Hegang have ordered all 106 coal mines in the city to suspend production for a safety check.

The city government and public security bureau have formed a group to console the victims' families, Xinhua said.

Leaders of the mine at first concealed the fact that workers were missing, delaying the rescue.

On Friday, residents reported that some workers were still trapped below ground. Hegang authorities immediately organized a rescue team and asked police to investigate the incident.

The mine's owner finally admitted that 13 workers were missing.

But it was difficult for rescuers to descend deep into the mine because the fire was still not under control and a lot of carbon monoxide had built up.

Rescuers said there was little hope for the missing workers, but efforts continued.

Experts said it would take at least a week for firefighters to extinguish the blaze.

Preliminary investigation showed that the fire was triggered by a spark from an electric cable and the use of an arc welder in the mine.

In another development, six former officials of Hongdong County in North China's Shanxi province received two to eight years imprisonment last Wednesday for dereliction of duty which led to a serious gas explosion in a coal mine late last year.

The officials included Shi Jiqing, former deputy director of the county's work safety supervision bureau.

The explosion in Xinyao coal mine on December 5 last year killed 105 miners and injured 18.

(China Daily, March 10, 2008)