China safety watchdog said Wednesday that coal mine safety officials were barred from taking gifts or accepting patronage from coal producers to purchase office apartments or autos.

The announcement was made after media revealed that the Shanxi Xinzhou Coal Mine Safety Administration had borrowed 2.09 million yuan (US$0.27 million) from local coal mines to buy office apartments and accepted a gift of 380,000 yuan (US$50,000) to purchase cars.

Investigations showed the Xinzhou administration in coal-rich Shanxi Province had a work area of around 2,550 square meters for a total of 10 employees, and 12 offices were suites with individual bathrooms, according to the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).

Every employee with the Xinzhou administration enjoyed a working area of more than 250 square meters on average -- bigger than a three- or four-bedroom apartment for a household of five with handsome salaries in Beijing.

However, regulations of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety (SACMS) said the office area for each employee at coal mine supervision administrations should be no more than 55 square meters.

The Xinzhou administration was also found to have purchased four sedan cars, exclusively for the use of its senior officials, with gifts from local coal mines, although senior officials of local administrations were not allowed to have cars for their exclusive use.

Domestic brand autos of no more than two liters are recommended by SACMS regulations.

The SAWS figures show that coal mine accidents killed 4,746 people in China in 2006. On average, 17 miners lose their lives every day in Chinese coal mines.

Local administrations which fail to properly supervise mines bear a significant share of the responsibility for the woeful safety record of the country's coal mines, work safety authorities said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2007)