A colliery explosion in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region killed 12 miners on Thursday, the day before 6 were arrested as being responsible for the fatal mine flooding in Jilin Province in April.
The gas blast occurred at 4:40 PM at Wanlong Colliery in Tuquan County while 19 miners were working underground, local workplace safety authorities in Hohhot said today.
The mine was licensed but did not have gas monitoring facilities, according to officials, and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Six people held accountable for the flooding at Tengda Coal Mine, Jiaohe on April 24 that killed 29 with one still missing were confirmed to have been arrested on Friday while victims' families each received 200,000 yuan (US$24,100) in compensation.
The detainees are the owner of neighboring Ji'an Coal Mine Cao Huijie, his assistant Cao Huizhong, production manager Feng Guobao, technology manager Liu Jincheng and another two directors on duty Li Yunpeng and Sun Xinyuan.
Local police alleged that they had violated production safety law by hiding information about a water leak that spilled into the shaft of Tengda after building up for two days, so delaying rescue efforts for the 69 miners trapped underground.
Both mines were licensed and privately owned. Tengda had 200 miners and an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons of coal, while Ji'an had 50 miners and an annual capacity of 15,000 tons.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2005)
