Death toll rose to 31 and?one miner?remains missing in
a coal mine gas explosion in Yan'an City, northwest China's Shaanxi
Province, with four more bodies recovered on Monday and Tuesday,
according to the rescue headquarters.
The gas blast happened at 4:20 PM Saturday in Wayaobao Township
Coal Mine in Zichang County of Yan'an when 39 miners were working
underground. Seven miners managed to escape to the ground.
Six officials, all shareholders and managing personnel of the
mine, were arrested on criminal charges, according to a local
police source. Officers are hunting a seventh official who fled
after the blast.
Mayor of Yan'an Chen Qiang said a safety check in March revealed
there was bad ventilation in the tunnel of the mine. He added that
bosses were ordered to improve it at the time.
Though an investigation into the cause is still being under way,
poor ventilation might have caused gas to build up and explode,
coal mine safety experts said.
Chen Deming, governor of Shaanxi Province, went to the site on
Sunday morning and said that the local administration department
would also be investigated to see if it bore any responsibility for
the tragedy.
In a separate accident on Sunday evening at a gold mine in
southern Shaanxi, five people were injured and 17 were left
missing, according to Wei Zengjun, mayor of Shanluo, yesterday.
A storage pond dam holding more than 1 million cubic meters of
gold pulp suddenly broke and the pulp rushed out, destroying 40
local farmers' houses next to the dam, the mayor said.
"Among the 17 missing people, nine are female and eight male,
and the five injured, four male and one female, were sent to
hospital and are in stable conditions," said Mao Quanbo, an
official in Shangluo's Zhen'an County where the gold enterprise is
located.
About 130 families, whose properties were also at risk from the
pulp, were moved to a safe area yesterday.
Rescuers were also trying to locate those missing after the
accident.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily May 2, 2006)