90 held accountable for covering up coal mine accident

Ninety individuals have been held accountable for their involvement in covering up a coal and gas accident that resulted in seven deaths and seven injuries at a coal mining company in Fuxin, Liaoning province, in June, according to an official investigation report.

The report, released by the Liaoning Bureau of the National Mine Safety Administration, found that the accident was a production safety responsibility accident caused by cross-border illegal mining, concealing the working area to evade supervision, failing to implement gas control measures, and the deliberate concealment of the accident by the company.

A total of 84 individuals were held accountable for their involvement in covering up the accident. Among them, 32 individuals were apprehended by judicial agencies, including the Party chief and chairman of the company. An additional 35 individuals were facing Party disciplinary and administrative penalties, and 17 individuals were punished by the Fuxin government in accordance with laws and regulations.

The report also confirmed that the company had stolen 32,866 tons of coal and concealed three other accidents in the coal mine as of July 31, 2023.

Furthermore, two officials within the Liaoning provincial coal mine safety supervision and management bureau and the Liaoning Bureau of the National Mine Safety Administration have been placed under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation on suspicion of severe violations of discipline and law.

The report said that leads regarding other instances of stolen mine resources and underreported incidents are still under investigation and verification.

According to the investigation report, on June 27, a total of 169 individuals entered the coal mine, including 102 people in the legal production area and 67 people in the concealed operation area. The accident occurred at approximately 5:30 pm.

Subsequently, the company's legal representative received the accident report and phoned the company's chairman to report the accident, and the two agreed over the phone not to report the accident initially.

Before the victims were brought up from the well, arrangements were made to cut off the power supply to the surveillance video. At noon on June 28, after all the victims' bodies had been raised from the well, the company's legal representative and the chairman decided to conceal the accident.

Later, the two convened a meeting of the company's management to discuss the concealment of the accident and the secret disposal of the bodies. They then instructed personnel to delete mining area and underground surveillance videos and personnel location monitoring system information, requiring a uniform stance to conceal the ultra-deep cross-border mining behavior.

From June 29 to July 1, the chairman instructed relevant personnel to contact the families of the seven victims individually to negotiate compensation and the disposal of the remains. Finally, agreements were reached and signed to pay compensation ranging from 1.62 million yuan ($221,400) to 1.87 million yuan per family in cash. The victims' families agreed not to report the accident and to secretly transfer the bodies of the victims.

Simultaneously, the company arranged for personnel to contact the seven hospitalized injured individuals to negotiate medical treatment and compensation matters.

From June 28 to July 2, the company also arranged for personnel to obtain death certificates for the deceased in batches at four different medical institutions.

Additionally, from July 2 to the morning of July 3, another company representative arranged for personnel to transfer the bodies of the seven victims in three batches to a funeral home in Huree Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and cremated them.