Two natural disasters and one coal mine accident claimed 12
lives and injured 21 in the last two days. Thirty miners are also
still trapped underground after Sunday's colliery flooding.
Three people were killed and 13 others injured yesterday in a
hailstorm mixed with torrential rain that pelted Dahua Yao
Autonomous County, in south China's Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, local government sources confirmed
today.
Among three locals killed in Yahe Village of Guwen Town, one was
hit by lightning and two by debris from collapsing houses, the
sources said.
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Initial estimates said the hailstorm had affected more than 10,000
people in 12 towns and townships and damaged about 670 hectares of
cropland in Dahua County.
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Local government departments have sent officials in a rescue
operation to help villagers rebuild their homes and resume
production.
Another four people died and two were injured when a landslide,
caused by heavy rainfall, crushed a reinforced concrete work-shed
early on Monday morning in southwest China's Guizhou Province,
according to local officials.
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The accident occurred in Renhuai County as eight people from three
families were sleeping in the shed, which they were using as
makeshift home. Two escaped but the other six were buried.
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A 10-year-old girl and her parents were found dead after they were
excavated at about 8:00 AM, whilst an eight-year-old boy died later
in hospital.
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The local government ordered a transfer of residents exposed to
possible landslide dangers.?
A Shanxi
local government official announced today that Sunday's colliery
accident, which claimed five lives and injured six in the northern
province, was caused by violations of work regulations.
Police are investigating Bai Baofu, the owner of the mine, and
several others involved, and all the colliery's bank accounts have
been frozen, said Guo Jianzhong, director of the Gaoping City
bureau in charge of workplace safety supervision and
management.
Guo acknowledged that Duzhai Coal Mine, run by the township
government, has been expanding its production capacity to 300,000
tons a year from an annual output of merely 60,000 tons.
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Bai had kept enlarging its workface for the purpose of turning out
more coal without any official appraisal, Guo said.
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At present, the city government has ordered 170 local coal mines to
halt production for a thorough safety check-up since the
accident.
According to the latest reports, 30 miners remain trapped
underground after the flooding of the Tengda Coal Mine in Jiaohe
City, Jilin Province on Sunday, from which 39 escaped alive
yesterday.
(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2005)