According to government figures out in October, 1,146 people have died in 650 mining accidents so far this year in the country.
GRONINGEN (MINEWEB) – 22 people have died and one remains missing after an accident at a coal mine in China’s southwest Guizhou province.
According to media reports, a coal-gas outburst hit the Xiangshui Coal Mine in Panxian County on Saturday morning while 28 people were underground. To date, five miners have been brought to safety and rescue workers continue to search for the remaining miner.
According to Xinhua, the State Administration of Work Safety and the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety launched an investigation following the accident and, as a result, Lu Hongzhuan, chairman of the mine’s operator, Pannan Coal Exploitation, the mine’s General Manager Wu Chao and Chief Engineer Zhao Qingping were sacked.
The newswire reported that, according to a statement from a temporary office designed to oversee the rescue work and the investigation, the deputy general manager of the Guizhou Panjiang Group, which controls the coal mine, also resigned.
“Investigators blamed inadequate measures to prevent gas outburst for the deadly accident, said the statement,”
According to a journal article published last year in Public Health Reports, that analysed national coal-mining accident data in China between 2001–2008, the fatality rate for Chinese miners during that period was 37 times higher than for American miners.
For the rest of this article, please go to the Mineweb.com website: http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-energy?oid=163718&sn=Detail