China officials conceal 17 deaths in mine disaster

Beijing, Feb 13: China has detained several coal mine managers and sacked four government officials who colluded to under-report the death toll from a colliery accident that killed at least 24 people, state media today reported.

On February. 2, Xinhua news agency reported that a fire at a coal mine in Tianchi, in the central province of Henan, had killed seven people and injured four.

The mine owner reported that there were only 11 people working underground at the time, the People's Daily said.

Based on the mine owner's report, and ''because of high temperatures underground and a high concentration of harmful gases'', rescue workers were advised by experts to seal the mine to avoid more deaths, the Beijing News said in a separate report.

The mine owner and local government officials told journalists that seven miners had died in the accident and four were rescued, but local residents said there were at least 30 people underground at the time, the paper reported.

The mine owner denied covering up the accident.

''This is a matter involving people's lives. I could not conceal it,'' the paper quoted him as saying.

An investigative team later found that the reported cause of the disaster and the death toll were false, according to the report.

Local police had obtained a contract between the mine operators and the families of the victims, in which families agreed to keep silent ''after receiving payment.'' Police had detained the mine owner, production manager and three staff at the mine. The Tianchi Communist Party chief and village head, and county-level mining and safety officials had been sacked, the People's Daily said.

China's coal mines are the world's deadliest. Last year, 4,746 workers were killed in mine blasts, floods and collapses.

Chinese officials have been widely criticised for lax enforcement of safety regulations and colluding with coal mine owners to protect local tax revenues, or even profits from their own shares in the lucrative business.

Reuters