They are also accused of trying to cover the truth of the accident after it happened, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Minister of the State Economic and Trade Commission Li Rongrong Monday urged local police to rapidly pump out water in the leaked mines.

The order is aimed at saving as many more workers as possible and ascertaining the exact number of people still trapped by the water leak which occurred in the early morning of July 17.

More than 70 people have been confirmed dead, according to Xinhua News Agency, and local sources report over 300 miners are still trapped in the mine.

"We should spend every second on pumping out the water to rescue the workers, and try our best to get the final death toll as soon as possible,'' said Li, who is in the autonomous region heading the central investigation team.

The leak occurred at Lajiapo Mine and Longshan Mine, owned by Longquan Mining and Smelting Factory of Nandan County.

Li Dongming, owner of the two mines and general manager of the factory, is now in the custody of local police. He is accused of covering up the cause and extent of the accident.

The website of People's Daily reported that there were around 2,000 workers mining in three shifts on average everyday.

But the exact number of people on duty at the time of the accident is still unknown, and the owner claimed he lost the list of his workers' names.

Another senior official with the State Economic and Trade Commission stressed the urgency of strengthening work safety.

Shi Wanpeng, vice-minister of the commission, told a national work-safety meeting in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, that the country saw a sharp rise in work-related accidents during the last month.

About 47,000 people died in some 350,000 work-related accidents during the first half of 2001.

(China Daily 07/08/2001)