Investigation Unveils Cause of Tin Mine Flooding Accident

Investigators dispatched by the Chinese State Council have ended their probe into the cause of the tin mine flooding accident in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on July 17 that led to 80 deaths.

The investigators have concluded that the accident at the Lajiapo Mine in Nandan County was the direct result of mismanagement, illegal mining and poorly-conducted explosions.

They also confirmed that local government and mine officials had been trying to cover up the accident, using illegal means, and did succeed in sealing the accident from the public for half a month.

The investigators believed that the accident occurred at 3:40 a. m. on the fatal day at the No. 3 working area of the No. 9 pit, which is 166 meters deep.

The investigators said the mine conducted two explosion operations at the No. 3 working area, even though they new of the possibility of flooding.

The explosions destroyed the terrain that separated the working area with the water beneath, letting out the powerful torrent that eventually flooded not only the Lajiapo Mine, but also the neighboring Longshan Mine and the Tianjiao Tin Mine, the investigators said.

It took the investigation team several weeks to pump out the water, at the end of which they discovered a total of 78 bodies.

It also turned out that two bodies had been secretly cremated by the mine owner on July 26.

Another person is stilling missing at present.

The owner of the mine, Li Dongming, and 10 other suspects have been arrested on charges of being responsible for a major safety accident.

Wan Ruizhong, former party chief of Nandan County; Tang Yusheng, former magistrate of the Nandan government, Mo Zhuanglong, former deputy party chief; and Wei Xueguang, former deputy magistrate of the county government, were also arrested for their roles in the cover-up.

The probe into the negligence of their duties, bribery and Mafia operations involved in the case will continue, the investigators said.






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