Chinese police have detained five people in connection with the deaths of eight people in an elevator accident in a mine on Tuesday, local government said Wednesday.

Those arrested were the general manager, two people in charge of facilities and production, and two operators of the elevator in the Fengyuan lead-zinc ore mine of Tieling City, Liaoning Province.

The elevator plunged to the bottom of its shaft on Tuesday morning, killing all eight workers on board.

The privately-owned mine was founded in 2001 with a designed annual production capacity of 10,000 tons.

The company, which has a legal business license, suspended operations in the first half of 2007 for technical renovations to improve its output to 60,000 tons.

It resumed production in February.

The local government has sent a team of investigators including police and production safety supervision administration officials to the site.

The investigation team said families of the victims would each receive 210,000 yuan (30,000 US dollars) in compensation.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2008)