A northeastern China coal mine where a gas explosion killed 115 workers last month had been instructed to shut down at least seven times before the fatal accident, the official Communist Party newspaper reported on Monday.
The Chengzihe mine in Jixi, a town in Heilongjiang province, also was plagued by mismanagement and ignored production safety, the party newspaper People’s Daily said, quoting the State Administration of Mine Safety.
It said various safety agencies, both regional and national, had ordered the mine closed. Those agencies said it was unsafe, had not undergone routine inspections and lacked the money to update out-of-date equipment, People’s Daily said.
The newspaper didn’t specify when the shutdown orders were issued but said a local inspection team finally checked out the mine – just days before the accident.
A man who answered the phone at the Chengzihe mine on Monday morning refused comment. At the time of the accident, the mine had 5 500 workers and produced 1,1-million tons of coal annually, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
China’s notoriously unsafe coal mines kill thousands each year and have claimed the lives of more than 150 miners in the past month alone. The worst offenders are typically small, privately owned mines that can operate under the radar of provincial and national safety agencies.
The central government in Beijing, under pressure to boost safety, has promised to shutter mines where fatal accidents occur and punish operators, giving owners an incentive to conceal deaths and evade responsibility.
On Sunday, the owner of a private coal mine where an explosion trapped 39 workers in a pit last week surrendered to police after family members pushed him to turn himself in, Xinhua said.
Chen Xiaoguo (37) was taken into custody on Sunday morning, Xinhua said, quoting Li Shuguo, the mayor of Baishan city in the northeastern province of Jilin. Chen had been missing since the accident in his Fuqiang mine on Thursday.
The mine should not have been operating and should have been shut as part of the government crackdown on small mines, said Zhao Tiechui, deputy director of the State Bureau for the Supervision of Coal Mine Safety.
Rescuers recovered two bodies after going underground through a separate pit and digging through to the area of the blast.
Officials have said they hold out little hope of finding survivors, but nearly 500 rescuers were continuing their work late on Sunday night, Xinhua said. – Sapa-AP