Henan coal-mine blast kills 35

• Source: Global Times
• [02:58 September 09 2009]
• Comments

Gas explosions account for the majority of deadly mining accidents in China. In the first seven months of the year, such explosions comprised 58.5 percent of the total mining accidents, according to figures released by the State Administration of Work Safety.

On February 22, 78 people were killed and 114 were injured in a gas explosion at the Tunlan Coal Mine in Shanxi Province.

And on May 30, another gas explosion at the Tonghua Coal Mine in Chongqing Municipality killed 30 people and injured 59.

Despite the government's effort to clamp down on small and unsafe mining operations that account for three-fourths of deaths in the business, lax safety standards have made small Chinese coal mines the deadliest in the world.

A small mine is typically defined as having an annual capacity of less than 300,000 tons. Last year, the number of accidents at small mines made up 85 percent of the national total, and the deaths accounted for 74 percent, according to official figures. The death rate at mines with less than a 1 million-ton capacity was also eight times higher than at State-owned mines.

Foreboding vow

Just three days before Tuesday's accident, safety director Luo vowed to shut down about 1,000 small coal mines this year, calling them unsafe.

Although its death rate per million tons of coal mined still ranks among the world's highest, China's mines are much safer than years ago.

Stricter supervision, regulations and the closure of 12,155 small mines across the country since 2005 have cut the death rate by about 75 percent, Zheng Jiaxin, a coal-mining consultant in Beijing, told the Global Times.

"There are still some unqualified coal mines operating, as they are protected by local officials who often hold personal stakes in mines, but they are getting fewer," he said.

Experts attributed the high rate of accidents at small coal mines to poor safety standards, weak management and the absence of required ventilation and fire-control equipment.

"Many owners of small coal mines are driven solely by profit. They are reluctant to invest to improve technology, equipment and management," Fang said.

As a result, most small mines are mined manually, and miners are often untrained, learning the work on the job.

Some coal-mine owners do not follow safety standards, as they believed that the cost of compensating the families of workers killed in an accident is less than that of the safety equipment and training.

"To reduce the death rate, the authorities should impose a higher threshold of market access to the coal-mining industry and a higher fine for malpractice," Fang said.