Colliery Blast in NW. China County Linked to Crime, Police Says

Colliery blast in NW. China county linked to crime, police says

URUMQI, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — The cause of a fatal explosion that occurred at a coal mine in early November last year in Qitai County, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has been recently ascertained.

Local police sources said in wee hours on Nov. 8, 2005, Ding Jifu, to give vent to his resentment, ignited 510 kilograms of explosives that were stored at the living quarter of Beitaishan Coal Mine in Qitai County. The blast killed 14 people and injured another 24.

The sources did not give detailed information about the perpetrator.

Some 206 kilometers away from the seat of the county, Beitaishan coal mine is a licensed, private open-cut coal mine. The sources said according to rules, the explosives should have been stored in a special warehouse in stead of the living quarter.

Officials with the regional public security authority said there were in Xinjiang some crimes commited by resentful perpetrators last year. For instance, on January 20 a bus was exploded in Dushanzi, leaving 11 people dead and seven others injured.