China registers double-digit drop in mine accidents

As of the end of August, the number of work safety accidents at mines have decreased by 25.6 percent year-on-year and the number of fatalities have fallen by 31.99 percent compared with that last year, an official from the Ministry of Emergency Management said on Wednesday.

Besides that, no major accidents have occurred in mines nationwide since the beginning of this year as stringent measures to prevent and curb major accidents in the mining sector were introduced by the State Council's Work Safety Committee in January, according to Huang Jinsheng, director of the National Mine Safety Administration under the ministry.

To achieve these, 1,128 high-risk mines have been identified and warnings and evacuations ahead of extreme weather have been strictly enforced, with 130,000 people evacuated, Huang said.

Huang said severe actions have been taken against major illegal activities including faking safety monitoring systems. More than 8,500 principals of the enterprises were summoned for talks and 399 among them were ordered to be investigated for criminal responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the State Council's Work Safety Committee office conducted inspections in Shanxi and Heilongjiang provinces, resulting in the introduction of 388 and 68 local policy documents, respectively, according to Huang.

Huang added that the mine safety inspection system has conducted 5,558 supervisory activities, issued 2,069 rectification and advisory letters, and summoned 1,697 individuals for talks.