China: 11 Workers Confirmed Dead In Changzhi Mine Accident

[News_Editor]

China: 11 workers confirmed dead in Changzhi mine accident 2012-04-17 20:20:05 GMT+7 (ICT) TAIYUAN, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Eleven workers were found dead on Monday after a coal mine was flooded in northern China late last week, the government confirmed on Tuesday. There were no survivors among those who were trapped.The incident happened at around 1 a.m. local time on Friday when floodwater trapped a group of miners who were working at the Shanfu Coal Mine near the city of Changzhi in Xiangyuan County, which is located in Shanxi province. The owner of the mine initially claimed nine miners were trapped, but local authorities later discovered that eleven people were working at the mine when the incident occurred.A spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety confirmed on Tuesday that the bodies of all eleven miners had been recovered, and no one else is believed to be missing. The body of the last victim was retrieved from the mine at about 7:15 p.m. local time on Monday.According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, police in Shanxi province have arrested 21 people after an investigation revealed that the mine's production license was expired at the time of the incident and the mine's assets were frozen. Among those arrested were the mine's owner and manager.Authorities have also launched investigations into 43 coal mines in Changzhi, Xinhua reported, adding that production at two mines have already been stopped due to safety violations. Other details were not immediately released.Safety conditions at mines in China have significantly improved in recent years but they remain among the world's most dangerous with 1,083 fatalities in the first seven months of 2011 alone. There were 2,433 fatalities in 2010 and 2,631 in 2009.Also last week, the Kongzhuang Coal Mine in Peixian county of Jiangsu province was flooded. Of the ten miners who were working at the mine at the time of the accident, three were able to escape while the bodies of four miners were later recovered. Three others are believed to be still missing.Earlier this year, on March 16, thirteen miners were killed when an elevator fell out of control and slammed into the bottom of the Shimen Iron Ore Mine in Lucheng township, which is located in Cangshan county in Shandong province. The accident occurred when a steel rope which was carrying the elevator broke, causing it to plummet to the bottom of the pit.China in recent years shut down scores of small mines to improve safety and efficiency in the mining industry. The country has also ordered all mines to build emergency shelter systems by June 2013 which are to be equipped with machines to produce oxygen and air conditioning, protective walls and airtight doors to protect workers against toxic gases and other hazardous factors.The first manned test of such a permanent underground chamber was carried out in August 2011 when around 100 people - including managers, engineers, miners, medical staff, and the chamber's developers - took part in a 48-hour test at a mine owned by the China National Coal Group in the city of Shuozhou in northern China's Shanxi Province.One of the worst mining accidents in China in recent years happened in November 2009 when 104 workers were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province.

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