Rescuers said on Monday that they have so far discovered 45
bodies at the site of last Thursday's coalmine blast in Chengde in
north China's Hebei
Province.
Only one miner was rescued. Another five are still missing.
The explosion occurred at around 3:00 AM last Thursday when 85
miners were working underground at the Nuan'erhe Coal Mine.
Thirty-four of them were lifted up to the ground, and 51 others
were trapped.
The State Council set up a team on Sunday in Chengde to
investigate the incident.
Zhao Tiechui, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine
Safety, was named head of the team. He will lead three sub-teams to
look into the specific causes of the incident, calculate financial
losses suffered, suggest the punishment to be metered out on those
found to be responsible for the mishap, and provide precautionary
tips to other coal mines.
Zhao added that his team would focus on compensation for the
families of the dead miners.
The team comprises officials from concerned ministries, the
Hebei Provincial Government and Chengde City Government. Colliery
experts were also invited to form a separate panel to facilitate
the work of the State Council team.
Located at Nanzhangzi Village in Bajia Township, the coalmine
was state-owned until December 2003 when it was auctioned off to
the Beijing Guodian Zhongneng Electric Fuel Investment Co., Ltd.
for 65 million yuan (US$7.8 million).
Sun Jisheng, the only survivor of the blast to date, was in a
coma when he was rescued on Saturday. He regained consciousness on
Sunday but the prolonged lack of oxygen to his brain, a condition
known as cerebral hypoxia, has caused him to suffer memory loss,
said doctors with the No. 266 Hospital of the PLA (People's
Liberation Army), Chengde.
In January 2002, Sun survived a similar explosion that killed 29
and injured 11 at the same colliery.
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2005)