Seven miners trapped, Chinese officials demand stricter standards

Nov 13, 2011, 8:13 GMT

Beijing - Seven miners were trapped underground after a coal shaft flooded early Sunday in northwest China's Gansu province, local officials said.

The provincial safety administration said the accident occurred at the Sigeshan Tongda mine in Jingtai County.

The accident came after China's work safety chief ordered stricter supervision nationwide. Gas explosions, floods and fires are frequent occurrences, killing hundreds of miners each year, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Luo Lin, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, denounced poor safety standards at a mine where rescuers had pulled out 30 bodies and were searching for 13 others following an explosion three days earlier.

Luo said safety measure's at the coal mine in south-western Yunnan province were 'very poor,' Xinhua reported.

'There was no monitoring system in the mine, accident-prevention measures were inadequate, and managers defied the order to go down into the mine with workers,' he said.

The mine was also found to be operating illegally, having had its license revoked a year ago, according to the provincial coal safety supervision bureau. It was ordered to shut down in April.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang told an industry workshop in the eastern city of Hefei that China's coal mines still face 'a grim situation.'

'The latest accidents ring the alarm, warning us that accident prevention is a complex, difficult, and urgent task,' Zhang said.

He also urged researchers to develop new technologies, such as methane capture, and advanced equipment to reduce accidents.

Latest official data shows that more than 2,600 people died in mining accidents in 2009, Xinhua said.