The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council said that it is imperative to organize task forces and try every means to rescue the workers buried in a coal mine in Xuzhou city, Jiangsu province.

Leaders of the State Council have urged that experts be sent to the scene, and that other illegally-operated mines should be closed immediately.

Zhang Baoming, director of the State Administration of Work Safety Supervision (SAWSS), has led a group to the mine to oversee the rescue work.

People responsible for safety-related accidents on the job will be severely punished to ensure the state's work safety laws and regulations are followed, according to a senior official of Jiangsu Province, east China.

Hui Liangyu, secretary of CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, made the remarks Monday at a conference discussing a recent coal mine blast in the province.

The catastrophe occurred on July 22 in Gangzi Village, in the city of Xuzhou, when a total of 106 miners were trapped at the bottom of an illegally operating coal mine. Thirteen people were rescued from the mine immediately after the accident, along with 16 bodies.

Anyone found to be responsible for any type of work safety accident, especially those involving illegal production, will face heavy punishment in accordance with related laws and regulations, said Hui.

Operation of more than 100 small coal mines in Xuzhou has been stopped and the mines are undergoing safety reviews.

The cause of the Gangzi blast is under investigation, Hui said.

(People’s Daily 07/24/2001)