An explosion occurred at the Anshun coal mine in Huajiao Township of Huadian City, Jilin Province on 31 October when six miners were working underground. One managed to escape and the other five were found dead several days later.
The gas content in the mine was reported to be over ten percent which is highly dangerous. After the accident, all the 37 coal mines in Huadian City were allegedly ordered to stop production and to conduct safety examinations, according to Zhao Chungui, vice mayor of Huadian.
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
Seven miners were killed when a flood occurred at the Xishan Mine in Urumqi on 19 October when 14 miners were worked. Seven escaped.
The remaining seven migrant workers from Sichuan Province trapped in the mine were confirmed dead at the regional Safe Production Supervision Bureau on coal mine safety press conference on 1 November.
According to reports, the workers were probably buried in the build-up of sludge as the shaft, where the workers were working was commonly flooded. In addition there was a high concentration of gas in the mine which was deadly to the miners and was hampering rescue work.
According to local officials, the shaft, where the accident took place, had been dug without the permission of the Ministry of Land and Resources and it had been closed to avoid examination by the local authorities just three days before the accident occurred. In addition, just one day before the flood occurred, the safety supervisor of the mine reportedly told the manager that there was unusual flooding in the shaft, but the manager did not halt production.
At the same coal mine, a previous accident on 19 July, killed one and injured three others.
Sichuan Province
Thirteen miners were killed, either buried by coal or poisoned by gas on 28 October in a mine in Qijiang County, Chongqing City, Sichuan. Six miners escaped and one is still missing.
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
A mine in Tingle village, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, collapsed on 26 October, killing seven workers. It was reported that the accident was caused by excessive digging and disregarding of safety procedures. The owner and all the workers were all Tingle residents.
The mine which opened in 2000 had been ordered to close after it was found not to meet government standards and lacked basic health and safety procedures and equipment
Background
According to recent figures published on 31 October by the State Work Safety Administration, accidents in miens and factories killed some 11,449 people in the first nine months of this year, a jump of nearly 9 percent over the same period last year.
This increase comes despite repeated efforts by the authorities to end the rising fatalities in miens and factories and reveal how little progress the authorities have made towards ending the carnage.
Official fatalities were reportedly down slightly in coal mines, but the number of fatalities in other mines rose 8.8 percent to 1,626. The number of deaths in non-mining industries also rose by 19.1 percent to 5,203.
Most mining deaths occur in small, privately run coal mines which often lack even the most basic of safety equipment and which often operate illegally. Many accidents are themselves covered up and the fatalities not recorded in official figures.
4 November 2003