Roundup: NE China Coal Mine Blast Death Toll Rises to 164, Investigation Team Founded to Probe Cause of Accident
Roundup: NE China coal mine blast death toll rises to 164, investigation team founded to probe cause of accident
QITAIHE, Heilongjiang, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) — The death toll of the northeast China coal mine blast rose to 164 as of 8:00 a.m. Thursday, while seven others are still missing, rescuers said.
The number includes 162 miners who were confirmed dead underground and two others who died in the ground generator room, sources with the coal mine said.
The blast went off at 9:40 p.m. Sunday at the Dongfeng Coal Mine run by the Qitaihe branch of the Longmei Mining (Group) Co. Ltd. in Heilongjiang.
The latest figures show that 242 miners were working underground when the blast occurred and 73 have been saved, 48 of whom are being hospitalized, according to the Longmei Group.
The State Council, China’s cabinet, announced Thursday that an investigation team has been set up in the city of Qitaihe, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, officially launching the probe into the cause of the disastrous coal mine accident.
The investigation team is headed by Zhao Tiechui, head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety Supervision.
Zhao said the major responsibilities of the team is to find out the causes of the coal mine blast, identify the responsibilities of the chief leaders of the mine and give related proposals on punishment and measures that avoid the same tragedy to recur.
The investigation team will submit a detailed report when their researches finish.
“It is a very serious accident,” said Li Yizhong, head of the National Bureau of Production Safety Supervision Administration.
He said it is China’s 21st coal mine accident with death toll more than 100 since 1949.
The investigation team has ordered immediate shutdown of the Dongfeng colliery, and also asked the Heilongjiang provincial authorities to suspend the mine’s licenses and conduct rectification in management.
Three mine officials in connection with the accident have been removed from posts, including Qu Jixian, general manager of Longmei Group’s Qitaihe branch, Ma Jinguang, head of Dongfeng mine and the mine’s party chief Chen Zhiqiang.
Meanwhile, as of Thursday afternoon, the bodies of more than 100 miners have been identified by their relatives while compensation work is under way.
A spokesman of the Longmei Group said the relatives of every dead miner will receive 200,000 to 220,000 yuan (about 24,660 to 27,100 US dollars) in compensation.