China's Committee for Safety in Production under the State Council warned all coal mine operators in the country to pay more attention to safety production after the Spring Festival holiday, which ended on Saturday.

The committee made the announcement in an notice issued on Saturday to all Chinese coal mine operators upon Wednesday's coal mine explosion in North China's Shanxi Province.

The committee urged all coal mine operators to inspect and repair unqualified facilities in the coal mines when they resumed production after the holiday.

All new recruited coal mine workers must receive relevant training on safety production and workers at special posts must receive relevant certification before they start working, said the committee.

The colliery gas blast that happened on Wednesday morning at the Sihe Coal Mine of the state-owned Jincheng Mining Group of Shanxi Province killed 23 coal miners and injured 53 others.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2006)