Police in northeast China's Liaoning Province have arrested another five
people for allegedly trying to cover up a coal mine fire in which
at least six miners were killed.
Xiang Fangshu, owner of the Dongfang No.1 Coal Mine in Dongliang
Town of the Mongolian Autonomous County of Fuxin, was detained on
Wednesday.
The number of arrests has reached six with the apprehension of
Xiang Fangzhu, the mine owner's younger brother and a deputy head
of work safety at the mine, Meng Qingrong, a deputy head of
production, Ruan Renwu and Liu Guoyuan, both in charge of
operations in the western zone of the mine.
The police also arrested Xiang Fangxiang, the owner's elder
brother, who was suspected of helping to cover up the fire by
concealing the bodies of the dead miners.
The fire broke out at about 3:40 PM on Sunday when 35 miners
were working below ground. Six miners were suffocated by the fumes
and 15 were injured.
Only 14 miners managed to escape unhurt from the mine.
The injured miners, mostly suffering from severe burns, are
being treated in the local hospital.
Xiang Fangshu allegedly attempted to handle the accident himself
and failed to report it to local work safety authorities, but on
Monday afternoon the disaster was reported by someone close to the
company.
Xiang allegedly admitted the fire to a team that went to
investigate.
The privately-run mine is licensed with an approved production
capacity of 50,000 tons a year. It produced 48,000 tons last
year.
When the fire broke out, the mine was reportedly preparing to
resume production following a suspension for safety reasons.
All coal mines in the area were ordered to suspend production on
Feb. 10 and were prohibited from resuming operations if they failed
to meet local authorities' safety requirements.
Twenty-three miners died on March 10 when another coal mine in
the province flooded.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)