Police have detained 33 people after this week's mine blast
which killed at least 105 people in Shanxi Province.
The 33 are alleged to be responsible for the massive gas
explosion that ripped through the village-run Xinyao Coal Mine at
11:15pm on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Public Security yesterday issued a class-B
arrest warrant for the owner and manager of the mine, in Hongtong
County, Linfen City.
State broadcaster CCTV named the mine owner as Wang Hongliang
and its manager as Guo Jianmin. It said the mine's bank accounts
have been frozen.
Rescuers found 26 more bodies in a mine shaft yesterday morning,
but the exact number of workers in the mine at the time of the
blast was still being investigated.
Officials said yesterday that at least 120 miners, instead of
the previously reported 111, were in the mine when it blew up.
The latest information on survivors was that 15 workers either
escaped or were rescued later.
Rescue work, including pumping deadly carbon monoxide from a
shaft, is continuing and officials are trying to identify the
dead.
Authorities said they believe the colliery managers delayed
reporting the accident for about six hours while they tried to
mount their own rescue operations, which meant a crucial
opportunity to rescue trapped miners was missed and casualties
probably increased.
Xinyao, owned by Ruizhiyuan Mining Co, held full, valid licenses
to produce 210,000 tons of coal a year.
Xu Zhancheng, engineer-in-chief of the Shanxi Provincial Bureau
of Coal Mine Safety, said preliminary investigations indicate a
coal-dust explosion.
Authorities including Li Yizhong, head of the State
Administration of Work Safety, Zhao Tiechui, chief of the State
Administration of Coal Mine Safety, and Zhang Baoshun, Party
secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Committee, went to the mine on
Thursday.
It is China's second deadliest mining disaster this year. In
August, 181 miners died when rain flooded two mines in eastern
Shandong Province.
(Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai Daily December 8,
2007)
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