Reported Coal Mine accidents in February 2004

28 February

Eight farmers were confirmed dead (earlier reports gave the figure as nine) after a coal refuse heap collapsed in the Xinji Coal Mine, Fengtai County, Huainan, Anhui province. The accident happened in the early afternoon of 28 February when eight farmers from nearby villages were picking coal blocks on the coal heap of the mine.

Anhui

Zhejiang Province

On 28 February, four miners died of suffocation in the Pingwei Bauxite mine in Huainan City. It was reported that the miners entered the mine at around 5:00pm to undertake maintenance work, but were suffocated to death after inhaling poisonous mixed gases. The mine had reportedly suspended production for a long period of time and tests after the accident revealed that the shaft was seriously short of oxygen.

27 February

Zhejiang Province

Two miners were killed and 13 others rescued when the shaft they were working in (some 180 metres underground), collapsed at the Shuangfeng Fluorite Mine, Lijinwu village, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province in the morning of 27 February. It is believed that the collapse was due to the weight of a separate collapse of an abandoned neighbouring mine bearing down onto the shaft in operation. Reports were unclear as to whether or not the abandoned mine had people actually working inside it.

Two miners were found dead and the remaining 13 other trapped miners were rescued alive late in the evening. The total number of miners working in the shaft at the time of collapse was 15, and not the earlier figure of 18.

The Shuangfeng Fluorite Mine is a legally authorized mine with a reported daily production capacity of 30 tons. It has a total of 75 workers, who are all from nearby villages. The two mine managers, Fan Zhuqing and Jin Yingmin, are reportedly being questioned by police.

According to one report, the provincial authorities have ordered all mines in Jinhua to close until a safety examination can be held.

23 February

Heilongjiang Province

An explosion at the Baixing Coal Mine, Heilongjiang province killed some 37 miners who were working in the shaft when the accident occurred early in the morning of 23 February. Poisonous gas residues in the shaft reportedly slowed the rescue work.

Experts attempting further investigation into the collapse of the Baixing coal mine, Jixi city, have been reportedly having difficulty entering the shaft after finding a blockade of fallen rocks and poisonous gas in the tunnel.

The bodies of the last three trapped miners were found on 27 February. Twenty-four of the 37 dead have already been cremated. [In the aftermath of some mine accidents in China, the bodies of the victims are not released to their families but are instead immediately cremated in order to avoid “instability” among the families of the victims.]

It was also reported in the official Chinese News Agency (Xinhua 27 February), that the families of 27 people killed in the explosion have received a total of 1.82 million Yuan (219,000 US dollars) in compensation from local labour and social security departments. The report continued to say that the local government would pay a total of 2.43 million Yuan (293,000 US dollars) for all the 37 victims, according to He Fuku, Director of the Jixi City Labour and Social Security bureau.

The dead miners were aged between 22 and 49 years of age. According to reports, 30 of them were locals, many of them laid-off workers from local enterprises that had gone bankrupt. Seven were migrant workers from Sichuan Province.
Baixing Coal Mine under the Jixi Mining Group, located in Lishu District, has an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons and was operating illegally at the time of the accident. It was reportedly shut down on 6 February 2004 by the local coal mine production safety department because of potential safety problems. The operating company was fined 20,000 Yuan (2,400 US dollars). However the owner, Wang Shijun, resumed production just days after the closure, on 9 February. It was reported that Wang Shijun has now been detained.

The area around Jixi, in China's northeastern rustbelt, has seen a proliferation of small mines and subsequent accidents. According to an official surnamed Wang, from the local Coal Mine Work Safety Bureau, "Last year, 70 miners died in coal mine accidents," [in the Jixi area alone]. Wang continued; "In November, 19 were killed in one accident alone."

19 February

Yunnan Province

Five miners were trapped underground after the Dahai Coal Mine was flooded in Bole Township, Zhanyi County in Yunnan province. Despite reports of some 300 rescue workers attempting to free the miners, no details have emerged as to whether or not the five miners have survived. One month on from the accident no further information has been released and it is presumed that the men are now dead.

16 February

Guangdong Province

A mine collapse on the morning of 16 February at the Yetang No. 2 Gypsum mine, Xiaoqiao village, Yetang Township, Xingning City, in Guangdong Province trapped 19 miners. Twelve of them were rescued shortly afterwards, while another was rescued the following day along with two dead colleagues. The final death toll was only known on 22 February when the body of the sixth dead miner was discovered.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the cave-in might have been connected with an earthquake that hit Xingning the same day, which had caused nearby houses to collapse. Some 340 of the 420 families in Xiaoqiao village were affected by the cave-in, with many houses having collapsed. No villagers have been injured. A second roof collapse in the mine on 23 February had slowed down the rescue work.

11 February

Guizhou Province

On 11 February, a gas explosion in the Yinjiadi Coal Mine, liupanshui City in Guizhou Province killed 25 miners. Fifteen others escaped alive after the blast.

CLB has made several interviews with officials, miners and hospital workers in this case. Currently (march 2004) there is no English translation available. However, please check this link and click on february 2004 as the English version will be uploaded shortly.

4 February

Shanxi province

Seventeen villagers were killed and 11 more are still reported missing after they entered an abandoned mine shaft near Jingzhong City, Shanxi Province on 4 February 2004. Rescue workers found all 17 dead the following day. No more information has been received about the 11 missing villagers and it is believed that they are now dead.

It was reported that the 28 people from nearby Huizu Village, near Jingzhong City, led by their village head Zhen Yuexiu, had entered the deserted mine shaft after one resident had claimed that it linked up with another coal mine in a neighboring village. The shaft was reportedly filled with carbon monoxide.

The reasons behind the villagers entry is unknown, however it is likely that they may have believed they could illegally work the abandoned mine to supplement their meager rural incomes. Shanxi province has a large concentration of village owned mines and a high fatality rate from illegal and unsupervised mining.

I February

Gansu Province

On 1 February, Carbon monoxide poisoning killed four workers at a small (certified) village-owned mine in Xiaoshankou, near the capital of Gansu province, Lanzhou. The cause of the accident remains unknown.

23 March 2004