CHINA: All 166 miners trapped below ground after a coal-mine explosion in central China are dead, state media reported, writes Clifford Coonan in Beijing
The miners who perished down the pit of the state-owned Chenjiashan coal mine after an explosion on Sunday were victims of a hunger for energy that has made China's coal mining industry the deadliest in the world.
President Hu Jintao publicly appealed for rescuers to do everything possible to save their lives. The government has repeatedly promised to reduce deaths in coal mines and is introducing measures to close smaller, more dangerous mines.
However, despite government efforts, safety standards and proper production techniques are often sacrificed under pressure to keep the collieries busy and production high to fuel China's economic boom.
China is the biggest global coal producer, supplying more than one third of the world's coal. Yet its collieries accounted for 80 per cent of all coal mining-related deaths last year. It appears now as if production pressures were a contributing factor to the deaths at Chenjiashan.
There was a fire at the mine on November 22nd and some miners refused to go back to work. But company officials threatened to fine or suspend absentees, according to local media reports.
Mr Yan Mangxue, Communist party secretary for the nearby Yaoyu village, said production should have been stopped after the fire. He blamed the explosion on negligence and greed.