Just two weeks after the horrific death of 115 Jixi coalminers in Heilongjiang Province on June 20, another blast tore through a coalmine in northeastern China.
The deadly Fuqiang Coalmine (literally means 'Rich and Strong Coalmine') is in the town of Songshu in Baishan City, Jilin Province. Thirty-nine miners were working underground when the gas explosion took place at 2am on July 4. Rescue work is still going on, but the local mine safety authority indicated that the miners had slim chances of survival.
The frequency of mine blasts rings a loud warning to Chinas mining industry. Last June, the State Council issued an order to close down all small-scale coalmines for safety checks, making special reference to the provinces of Shanxi, Jilin and Heilongjiang.
Obviously, the order has fallen on deaf ears, as the mines are important sources of income for the local authorities and corrupt officials. While more than 12,000 mines were closed since last May, the mines are by and large operating normally, haunted by accidents and fatalities. In April alone, 329 coalminers were killed in 125 REPORTED accidents, among which seven were serious accidents with over 10 deaths.
The appalling safety records in the mining industry are directly related to the governments refusal to allow miners to organise and negotiate for safe working conditions. Apart from safety hazards, miners have yet to fight against wage arrears, and closures when state-owned mines go privatised. Last year, in Jilin Province, up to 10,000 miners launched a strike on July 9, 2001 after many of them had gone without wages for as long as 30 months.
(Source: Xinhua News 04/07/02, People's Daily 04/07/02, BBC 02/07/02, Economic Daily, 14/05/02)
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Online: 2002-07-04