More than 5,000 Chinese civil servants participating in coal mine operation have received punishment in almost 100,000 illegal mining cases since 2005, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR).

By the end of 2006, China has investigated 89,926 cases of mining with no licenses, 1,907 cases involving illegal trading of prospecting and mining rights, and 5,795 cases of mining beyond boundary lines, said Jia Qihai, a senior official in charge of mining resources development in MLR.

A total of 2,154 people received penal treatment for illegal coal mining, he said.

However, the MLR official specified neither where or what ministries these civil servants come from nor the kinds of punishment they took..

China has been cracking down on illegal mining since the State Council, the country's cabinet, demanded an overall straighten-out campaign in August 2005.

"Generally speaking, the number of cases of illegal mining is declining sharply and mine resources are exploited in a more orderly manner," said Jia, who also called for more related efforts to address this issue.

"Officials in some regions still haven't realized the seriousness of the situation and supervision and institutional construction remains weak," he said.

Coal mine accidents killed 4,746 people in China in 2006. On average, 17 miners lose their lives everyday in Chinese coal mines, which are the world's deadliest.

On May 10, the State Administration of Work Safety announced punishment on 133 people held responsible for five serious accidents that claimed 249 lives. Four of the five accidents occurred in coal mines.

The largest single accident was a mine blast in Hebei Province on Dec. 7, 2005, which killed 108 people.

(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2007)