July 24, 2001
More than 90 coal miners were feared dead last night in the latest of a series of industrial disasters which have exposed serious weaknesses in China's control of industry.
They were trapped 260 metres (850ft) underground by an explosion in an illegal mine in the south-east province of Jiangsu. Mine officials in Xuzhou city said that 16 were confirmed dead and hope had been lost for a further 76. Thirteen miners, three of them women, had been brought out alive, they added.
Last year 5,300 people died in Chinese mine accidents. Already this year 3,000 mining deaths have been officially reported. The prime minister, Zhu Rongji, who has repeatedly denounced incompetent and corrupt management, called yesterday for a greater effort to prevent loss of life.
But although the local authorities regularly claimed that illegal pits have been closed, in reality they often turn a blind eye to them, since they provide jobs and revenue. Xinhua news agency said the mine was operating without a licence and had been ordered to halt production last month as part of the national crackdown on illegally run mines, but had reopened earlier this month. The contractor had been detained, it added.
Last week more than 30 people died in a Shanghai shipbuilding yard after a 60-tonne gantry crane toppled over, and dozens of villagers in Shaanxi province are thought to have died when an explosion, blamed on the illegal storage of explosives, ripped through their cave dwellings.
A few days before villagers out for an evening stroll were killed when a railway bridge in Sichuan province was knocked down by heavy machinery which had come loose on a goods train. Since a recent decision by the state council, provincial governors and city mayors know they can be disciplined or even sacked for "exceptionally serious accidents" within their jurisdiction, and they have rushed to recent disasters with well-publicised speed.
Senior officials in Shaanxi and Sichuan have already been disciplined for a number of serious mining disasters. Mr Zhu warned more than two years ago against "beancurd construction" - a common phrase for shoddy work often caused by corrupt sub-contracting which has led to the collapse of buildings, bridges and stretches of motorway.
More Information on Labor Rights and Labor Movements
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
