On 12 March, 2002, 15 people were sentenced by the High People's Court of the Guangxi Zhuang Minority Autonomous Region to imprisonment and fines for causing a serious accident which killed 81 miners. The accident took place in Longquan tin mine on 17 July, 2001 in Nandan county, Guangxi Province. Initially over 300 miners were believed to be missing. A high level investigation team was set up by the party and the government on the causes of and responsibilities for the accident, and found serious malpractices and corruption had led to illegal and dangerous operations at the mine.
Fifteen officials from the province's various departments, mining bureaus and companies and the top managers of the mine were convicted on corruption charges and received jail terms of between two-and-a-half years and 13 years. Three of the convicted were sentenced to 13-year jail terms; one to 11 years and two to 10 years.
Those who were finally sentenced did not, however, include the top party and government officials who were first arrested for responsibility for the disaster last year. The China News (31 August, 2001) reported that the county chief of Nandan, Tang Yusheng, the deputy county chief, Wei Xueguang, the general secretary of the Party committee of Nandan, Wan Ruizhong, and the deputy secretary, Mo Zhuanglong, were removed from their posts and put under investigation. The official news agency also reported on 9 January, 2002, that the deputy chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Minority Autonomous Region government, Wang Hanmin, was found to be responsible for the incident and received administrative penalties from the State Council. None of these top leaders were among those reported convicted and sentenced.
Most of China's small and medium size mines are operated illegally and have witnessed an alarming number of industrial injuries causing annual fatalities of nearly 10,000 miners. The Nandan case represents just one example among many of malpractices commonly found in mines in China. The Nandan county mine has been designated a key mining area by the national planning authorities. The mine in question, Longquan Mining Factory, was registered as a collectively-owned enterprise, but was in reality a private enterprise run by Li Dongming. The official investigation found that the owner operated many illegal mines by bribing local officials. The bribed officials then covered up for the illegal operations. The deputy director of State Administration for Safe Production Supervision, Wang Dexue, inspected the mine a month before the July disaster and warned against hazardous and illegal operations. When the disaster took place last July, leading local officials tried to impose a news blackout and obstructed journalists from investigating and reporting on the event.
(Sources: China News Service)
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Online: 2002-03-18