China Coal Mine Blast Kills 68

China Coal Mine Blast Kills 68
11/28/2005
Updated:
11/28/2005

BEIJING - An explosion ripped through a state-owned colliery in northeast China, killing 68 miners and trapping 79 underground The blast late on Sunday was the latest disaster to strike Heilongjiang, whose capital city, Harbin, was held hostage for five days by a toxic spill coursing through the Songhua river that provides its water supply, forcing a shut-down of tap water.

Li Yizhong, head of the country's top work safety watchdog, urged about 270 rescue workers to spare no effort to save 79 miners trapped at Dongfeng coal mine.

Sixty-eight of 221 miners working underground at the time have been killed, while 74 have been rescued, news agencies said.

Investigators blamed the blast on coal-dust explosion, which knocked out all ventilation systems in the pit. The main system resumed operation on Monday.

The accident came about two weeks after an explosion at a chemical plant in nearby Jilin province poured 100 tonnes of cancer-causing benzene compounds into the Songhua river.

An 80-km (50-mile) slick passed through the Songhua River and out of Harbin at the weekend.

Making no mention of the toxic spill, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao called last week for vigilance to prevent major accidents which cause huge casualties and property losses.

Taps were turned back on in Harbin, home to nine million people, on Sunday and Heilongjiang provincial Governor Zhang Zuoji drank tap water to prove it was safe.

Officials have warned residents to be on the lookout for symptoms of benzene poisoning, which can cause anaemia, other blood disorders and kidney and liver damage.

The Harbin crisis has raised wider questions about the costs of China's breakneck economic boom. Around 70 percent of its rivers are contaminated and the cabinet recently described the country's environmental situation as grim.

Water was discharged from nearby reservoirs to dilute the toxic spill and 1,000 soldiers installed charcoal filters at water plants to ensure water would be drinkable.

Environmentalists have complained that China is not sharing enough information about the spill to protect Russia's residents and rivers downstream from the Songhua.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has expressed regret to Russia's ambassador over the incident.

World's Deadliest Mining

China's mining industry is the biggest and the deadliest in the world. Accidents killed more than 2,700 miners in the first half of this year alone.

Booming energy demand and high coal prices has driven some mine owners to ignore regulations and Sunday's blast, at a state-owned mine, shows that larger players are not immune from disasters.

Dongfeng coal mine is run by a branch of the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining (Group) Co. Ltd. - a conglomerate of four state-owned major coal businesses in the province, with a registered capital of 13 billion yuan ($1.61 billion).

China's worst coal mine accident this year killed 214 people at a state-run mine in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

Accidents and disasters cause more than 1 million casualties annually in China. They also bring economic losses of 650 billion yuan ($80.5 billion) each year, equivalent to 6 percent of gross domestic product, according to Wang Jikun, a senior official with the Ministry of Public Security. ($1=8.077 Yuan) (Additional reporting by Brian Rhoads and Lindsay Beck)