The State Council's work safety committee yesterday urged
relevant authorities to take urgent actions to curb the spate of
accidents that have rocked China in recent weeks.
A committee circular stated that thorough investigations must be
carried out to find the causes of the accidents and that those
guilty of corruption and neglect of duty must be held to
account.
Investigations must be completed into some of the major
accidents and the results must be made public, the circular
says.
China has seen a spate of major accidents in the last few
weeks.
On October 28, 13 workers were killed in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region?when the
oil tank they were painting exploded.
On November 5, a gas explosion in the Jiaojiazhai colliery,
Datong City of Shanxi Province?killed 47 miners.
On November 12, 34 miners were killed in Nanshan colliery of
Lingshi County, also in Shanxi, when a fire broke out in the
pit.
Figures from the State Administration of Work Safety show that
China recorded 532,101 industrial accidents between January and
October, killing 92,437 people.
The committee called for solid measures to be taken to improve
safety measures in vulnerable industries.
With immediate effect, authorities must stop approving new
collieries with a capacity of under 300,000 tons a year, the
circular says.
(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2006)