Five ministerial officials head the list of 454 officials the Ministry of Supervision has disciplined for their involvement in 27 catastrophic coal mine disasters, it was announced on Friday.

Since 2001, the ministry has solved 27 of the 36 cases of severe colliery accidents it has handled, each of which caused the death of more than 30 miners, said Li Zhilun, head of the nation's supervision watchdog.

Besides the five ministerial officials, 60 heads of department (under a provincial government level) and 151 officials at the county level received punishment, Li said.

"An additional 140 have been transferred to judicial departments for relevant disciplinary action," he added.

Li's remarks appeared amidst a nationwide campaign to crack down on officials' illegal holding of stocks in coal mines investments regarded as a major factor in many accidents. Because of these business connections, blind eyes have often been turned to unsafe mines.

As of Thursday, at least 300 officials in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were confirmed to have withdrawn 33 million yuan (US$4 million) in investments from collieries. In addition, 497 officials in 27 provinces withdrew their investments by last week, Xinhua reported.

Huang Yi, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), told China Daily on Friday that SAWS had promulgated five regulations and rules to better implement a special order issued by the State Council on September 3 with the aim of enhancing coal mine safety.

Whistleblowers who report hidden perils or corrupt violations in the management of collieries to work safety departments could be given rewards of between 1,000 yuan (US$123) and 10,000 yuan (US$1,230).

(China Daily October 2, 2005)