Two senior local officials have apologized for a coal mine gas explosion that left 32 miners dead last weekend in Qujing, a city in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The accident, which occurred at 5:17 PM on November 25, injured another 28 at Changyuan Coal Mine in Fuyuan County.

At a meeting on work safety broadcast live on local television on Friday, Wang Xiliang, Vice Mayor of Qujing, and Ning Degang, secretary of the Communist Party county committee, bowed to apologize to the public for their responsibility for the tragedy.

Local government sources said a campaign was underway in Qujing to close down coal mines that failed to meet safety standards.

Over the past week, at least 100 people have been killed in a series of coal mine accidents throughout China.

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2006)