Despite a sharp rise in mining deaths and accidents, the State Administration of Work Safety has reported that overall workplace death toll was down 9.7 percent last month, or 964 less compared with the same period last year.

Accidents dropped by 9.8 percent, or 5,769 less than October of 2005, it said.

Officials reported 529 people were killed in 130 major accidents throughout China last month, down 12 percent and 12.8 percent respectively from the same month a year ago.

However, coal mine accidents have increased rapidly since early October, with 345 people dead in 174 such accidents in October. That represents a 44.4 percent increase in mining deaths and 26.1 percent increase in accidents compared to September.

The administration attributed the increase of coal mine accidents to relaxed management on safety in production, saying that coal mine safety was quite a "serious" problem facing the industry.

Last Sunday, 17 miners were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province, and another 30 were still missing.

SAWS Director Li Yizhong and Director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety Li Tiechui rushed to the site to organize rescue operations.

China's mining industry is the deadliest in the world, with about 6,000 people being killed in explosions, floods, collapses or other accidents each year.