Rescuers yesterday recovered the body of one miner from a flooded coal shaft in south China's Guangdong Province as hopes of finding 122 still trapped underground continued to fade.
Authorities detained 11 people believed responsible for the accident, including the mine owner, a manager, board chairman and chief technician, and suspended two mayors who had jurisdiction over mines in the area.
Only four miners were able to escape after a tunnel 480 meters underground flooded on Sunday at the privately owned Daxing Colliery in Wanghuai Town of Meizhou City in Guangdong.
The body of one miner was raised to the surface early yesterday, and rescuers continued to search for 122 others.
Though hope is slim, the central government ordered Guangdong Province to make every effort to rescue all the miners still trapped.
A special investigation team consisting of members from five central departments, including the State Administration of Production Safety and the Public Security Bureau, will be set up to probe the accident and bring those responsible to justice.
The State Council urged governments at all levels, all departments and enterprises to draw lessons from the tragedy and take more effective measures to enhance safety in production.
Any unit or individual who fails to implement state-required regulations will be severely punished.
Eleven people, including the owner, manager, board chairman and chief technician of the Daxing Coal Mine, ran away after the accident and were detained by police yesterday.
Also yesterday, two officials were given disciplinary warnings as they did not perform their duty during the rescue work.
Shi Quan, who was on duty at a shaft of the Daxing Coal Mine, and Zeng Xianji, an official with the Xingning City Coal Industry Bureau, were accused of not reporting the water level in the flooded shaft in a timely and accurate manner.
The headquarters in charge of the rescue work urged all rescuers to fulfill their duties and said that people who neglect their duties will be removed from their posts immediately.
Two mayors who are responsible for the colliery flooding accident have been suspended from their posts, the local government announced on Tuesday.
He Zhengba, mayor of Meizhou, and Zeng Xianghai, mayor of Xingning, were blamed for being incompetent in their supervision of the coal mine's production.
(Xinhua)