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35 dead 44 missing in mine blast: China

by Amitjha | September 7, 2009 at 09:33 pm

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Blast in mines and related deaths are not new in China.In latest incident of Mines blast in coal mine blast in Henan province killed at-least 35 miners. State media says that at the time of blast 93 miners were underground the mine, 14 escaped the Blast but 44 are still missing.

Last year more than 3200 people died in mines related blast in China.Why the Chinese mine are so accident prone, do they neglect the safety standard, just to cut the cost and compete in the international market.

At least 35 people have been killed and 44 are missing after a deadly blast in a coal mine in China's Henan province.

Chinese officials said 14 miners fled to safety, but 93 men were working underground at the time of the blast.

The State Administration of Work Safety said the pre-dawn gas explosion happened at Xinhua No 4 pit in Pingdingshan city.

China's mines are the most deadly in the world - thousands of workers are killed in them every year.

Most accidents are blamed on failures to follow safety rules, including a lack of required ventilation or fire control equipment.

A spokesman for the city's Communist Party committee said the Xinhua No 4 pit was undergoing renovations, and had not yet been authorised by the city government to resume operations.

Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent labour groups say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are allegedly covered up in order to avoid costly mine shutdowns.

Most accidents are blamed on failures to follow safety rules, including a lack of required ventilation or fire control equipment.

Coal is the source of about 70% of the country's energy.

Luo Lin, chief of China's State Administration of Work Safety, said on Saturday that officials would shut down about 1,000 small coal mines this year, in an attempt to improve management and safety.

Official media claim that more than 12,000 small coal mines have been shut down since 2005.

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Amitjha

at 01:19 on September 8th, 2009

The death toll from a coal mine gas explosion in central China's Henan Province Tuesday has climbed to 35 with 44 trapped underground, the local safety watchdog said.
The deadly gas blast took place around 1 a.m. Tuesday in the Xinhua No. 4 pit in Xinhua District of Pingdingshan City, said a spokesman with the Henan Provincial Bureau of Work Safety.

a211423

at 12:26 on September 9th, 2009

This is a tragic accident, but China is not the only place where coal mining still remains one of the most dangerous occupations.

While mining fatalities and accidents are less severe in the U.S. than they were thirty years ago, it still is very dangerous. In 2007, the injury rate in the U.S. was well above 1,000 per 10,000 workers. In that year there were 20 fatalities and 2,261 accidents. Only athletics/sports competition and animal control officers had a higher incidence of injury.

American history of mine safety has not been stellar. Miners usually come from the poorer, less politically and economically represented in our nation like West Virginia.