Leaning on a wooden board that says, "Prioritizing Safety and
Focusing on Quality," Qiu Rui waited outside the Haizhou mine,
half-hoping that his father could return miraculously from the
devastating gas explosion in Fuxin, a city in northeast China's Liaoning
Province.
The 26-year-old was one of the grieving family members of the
more than 200 victims of the accident.
The explosion took place 242 meters underground in the Sunjiawan
colliery around 3:00 PM on Monday. Of the 574 miners on duty when
the tragedy took place, only 330 escaped.
As of Friday afternoon, the confirmed death toll in the blast
had reached 213, making it one of the deadliest mining accidents in
Chinese history. Rescue and recovery teams had found the bodies
of two of four miners that had been counted as missing, and
had determined the location of the other two.
Family members of the victims have identified the remains of 175
of those killed, said Liu Guoqiang, deputy governor of Liaoning and
a member of the team investigating the explosion.
According to the hospital affiliated with the state-owned Fuxin
Coal Industry Group, which owns Sunjiawan, 29 miners were injured
in the accident from carbon monoxide poisoning, burns and
fractures.
Most of the injured were in stable condition, with the exception
of three who had suffered compound fractures, according to hospital
president Zhang Dayi.
Compensation for the families of the victims is being discussed,
and payment from the company will be available after approval from
the provincial government, local officials said.
The blast has aroused the intense concern of top Chinese
leaders. President Hu
Jintao, Premier Wen
Jiabao and Vice Premier Huang Ju
all issued instructions concerning handling of the accident to the
Liaoning provincial government.
A work team led by State Councilor Hua
Jianmin arrived at the accident site Tuesday morning to
coordinate rescue efforts and prepare compensation for the victims'
families.
During the past five months, China has seen a number of fatal
coal mine accidents and stained the "industry in black" with the
blood of hundreds of miners.
Last October, a blast claimed 148 lives at the Daping coal mine
in central China's Henan
Province. Two months later, a similar accident killed 166 in
Tongchuan, a city in northwest China's Shaanxi
Province.
Twenty-four people were found responsible for the Daping
tragedy, including Shi Jichuan, deputy governor of Henan Province.
Prosecutors from Henan said the accident "could have been prevented
if the officials involved had performed their duty."
Although the specific cause of Liaoning blast is still under
investigation, a sudden gas leak is believed to be to blame. Gas
reaching a density of higher than 12 percent against oxygen creates
conditions for an explosion.
In the past, such blasts usually affected small, privately owned
mines, particularly unlicensed ones. However, large state-owned
enterprise groups with million-ton production capacity are
reporting the explosions with greater frequency.
"There are still a lot of holes in safety management of coal
mines throughout the country," said State Administration of Work
Safety (SAWS) Deputy Director Sun Huashan when discussing the
Daping accident.
According to SAWS, about one-third of China's state-owned coal
mines are overloaded, increasing the risks of accidents. Sun also
blamed soaring demand for coal for pushing mining enterprises to
overreach. China is the world's biggest consumer and producer of
fossil fuel.
Mine operators' poor safety awareness and disregard for miners'
lives constitute another major cause of accidents.
"To maximize profits and minimize costs, the mines are reluctant
to invest more in work safety," said Li Dun, a prestigious
sociologist at Beijing's Tsinghua
University, in a previous interview.
A commentary appearing in the January issue of the Globe
Magazine, an affiliate of the Xinhua News Agency, suggested
that governments at all levels should pay closer attention to
hidden systemic flaws that can lead to accidents, in addition to
employing existing administrative surveillance measures.
The annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC),
China's top legislature, will be held in March. It is widely
believed that the safety and sustainable development of China's
coal mining industry will be one of the most hotly discussed issues
at the meeting.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily February 18, 2005)