Li Tiantai, the mayor of Linfen in north China's Shanxi
Province, has been removed from his post as the city's deputy Party
chief after being found responsible for a colliery accident that
killed 105.
Li, who was also expelled from the city's standing committee of
Communist Party of China (CPC), breached his duty of supervising
the mine's work safety, the Shanxi provincial CPC committee said in
a notice on Wednesday.
He will be replaced by Xia Zhengui, former mayor of Jincheng
City, the notice said.
The provincial CPC committee also suggested to the People's
Congress of Linfen, the city's legislature,?Li be removed from
the mayoral post.
Following the deadly explosion on Dec. 5 at Xinyao Coal Mine,
Hongtong County, Linfen City, colliery managers were found to have
delayed reporting the accident to local authorities.
The incident was believed to be the nation's second deadliest
mining accident this year. In August, 181 miners died when heavy
rain flooded two mines in eastern Shandong Province.
Li issued a public apology about one week after the explosion,
saying "the tragedy, which made it hard for him to sleep, had
revealed security loopholes in the city's coal mining
industry".
Police detained 36 people allegedly linked to the accident,
including mine owner Wang Donghai. Shanxi Province also ordered all
illegal coal mines to close in response to the fatal mine
explosion.
(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2007)