Under a new rule from China's top work safety watchdog, heads of coal mines can lose 80 percent of their annual salary if a disaster happens without their being in attendance in the shafts.

The rule, ordered yesterday, is an intensified effort by the government to curb repeated coal mine accidents in which bosses risk miners' lives, keeping them working to make huge profits for the companies with little concern for safety.

Mine leaders are required to go in and out of the pits on every shift along with the workers, said the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety. The leaders should keep and issue their work records publicly and work at least five shifts within one month.

Absent leaders will be fined from 30 to 80 percent of their annual wages if an accident takes place, and will lose their positions permanently if the accident is defined as major.

Rule-breaking mines will be fined up to 5 million yuan (US$729,200) and will have their licenses revoked, the administration said.

Another explosion

The administration will closely track the shift record of each leader and welcome public supervision through visits, phone calls and email to strengthen its enforcement, reported China Radio Station yesterday.

As if to underscore the urgency of action, a gas explosion yesterday at Ma'anshan Coal Mine in southwestern Yunnan Province killed seven workers and injured 12.

The rule, which goes into effect October 7, followed Premier Wen Jiabao's order in July that all coal leaders should go underground with the workers.

However, the order has gone largely ignored. Since it was issued, five mine accidents trapped 49 workers in Henan, Shaanxi, Hunan, Gansu and Liaoning provinces without leaders or managers on the scene.

Cave-ins, flooding and explosions claimed 2,631 lives in coal mines in China last year, nearly 600 fewer than 2008 after the government closed many illegal mines. But deaths jumped to 1,261 in the first half of this year, up from 1,175 in the same period of last year, according to Xinhua news agency.