Three officials including the mayor of Linfen, north China's Shanxi Province, were punished by the provincial organization department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Saturday for a fatal mine accident that killed 262 people.

The department's meeting on Saturday decided to suspend the work of Linfen's Communist Party chief Xia Zhengui, and proposed to dismiss the mayor Liu Zhijie and vice mayor Zhou Jie.

The meeting also nominated Luo Qingyu, deputy secretary-general of the Shanxi provincial government, as a candidate for the mayor.

The reshuffle of government posts have to be approved by the local legislative body.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2008)