Energy-hungry China warns of more industrial accidents

BEIJING, May 9 (Reuters) China's top safety official said the country's demand for energy to feed its booming economy could lead to a rebound in accidents in what is already the world's deadliest mining industry, state media said today.

Last year more than 4,700 people died in explosions, floods and other mining accidents, a decline of more than 20 per cent from the year before.

But Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, warned that China's quest for energy resources could further spur illegal mining operations and tempt companies to flout safety rules, the China Daily reported.

''The booming coal market is fanning the impulse of coal mines and other companies to increase production,'' the paper quoted Li as saying.

''Companies tend to ignore work safety rules and surpass their production capacity, overworking their employees and overloading equipment to meet the demand,'' Yi said.

China's coal production rose 11.9 per cent in 2006 from the year before.

Yu's comments followed a spate of lethal accidents in China's coal-rich northern Shanxi province last week.

On Saturday, a gas explosion at an illegally operating mine near Linfen, in China's northern Shanxi province, killed 30 people. Fourteen were killed in a separate blast at a mine in the province's Yuxian county the previous Monday.

''These frequent accidents expose the loopholes and deep-rooted problems relating to work safety in key industries,'' Li said.

Reuters SZ DS1107