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Delegation Flies to Guangxi to Investigate Reported Coal Mine Disaster
A delegation headed by Li Rongrong, minister in charge of the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC), will fly to Guangxi Friday afternoon to investigate the Nandan coal mine disaster, in which more than 70 miners had been confirmed dead.
Story behind screenA survivor from a flooded mine in South China estimates up to 400 workers were trapped in the tin pit accident on July 16 and accused the mine's owner of covering up the disaster last month.
The survivor, a 28-year-old Zhuang miner, said his boss had tried to bribe and threaten him to keep quiet and was still holding two other survivors at the mine in Nandan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
He said his safety would be at risk if he talked to reporters but he decided to let the world know what happened, the online report said.
Cao Bochun, Party chief of the autonomous region, confirmed on Friday the July 16 accident, saying preliminary investigations found that more than 70 miners had been confirmed dead.
Cao promised a thorough investigation into the accident to find out how many people were killed and to bring the people responsible to justice.
The regional government has formed an investigation team headed by Wang Hanmin, vice-chairman of the region's government, to find out the truth.
The survivor, whose name was not given, said there were four groups of about 100 people each working at the mine when the accident happened and he estimated at least 200 were still trapped, according to the website report.
He said he was lucky enough to survive because he could swim and was not in a deep shaft when the mine flooded.
Local reporters who rushed to the scene last month say they were harassed by mine officials and ordered not to report on the accident.
On Friday, Cao Bochun urged that the safety of journalists reporting on this accident and people who know about this accident must be guaranteed.
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