22 probed in mine blast cover-up

A total of 22 officials are being investigated and one has been arrested, accused of covering up a mine explosion that killed more than 30 miners in Hebei province on July 14, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The blast in the unlicensed Lijiawa mine in Yuxian county was set off by explosives illegally stored down the shaft.

Relatives of the dead were kept quiet with payments and threats, the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.