China丨Dozens held accountable for deadly workplace accidents

Dozens of officials and company employees have been held accountable for two severe workplace accidents that claimed nearly 100 lives, authorities announced on Tuesday.

▲[Photo/VCG]

Forty-four officials have been held accountable and 13 company employees have been arrested as an investigation team from the State Council, the country's Cabinet, concluded its investigation into a deadly mine collapse that claimed 53 lives in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in February.

The accident occurred at the Xinjing Open Pit Coal Mine in Alshaa League on Feb 22. Six workers were found dead shortly after the collapse. Local authorities announced the deaths of 47 people who were reported missing, as search and rescue concluded on June 21.

Six of the officials have been placed under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation on suspicion of seriously violating disciplines of the Communist Party of China and national laws, including Wu Ning, an official in a position equivalent to a deputy county head with the National Mine Safety Administration's bureau in the region, the Inner Mongolia regional government said in a media release on Tuesday.

Huang Zhiqiang, who was vice-chairman of the regional government and who oversaw work safety at the time, and Dai Qin, Party chief of the Alshaa League when the accident occurred, were given warnings within the Party.

The media release said the police launched an investigation into 19 people for the crime of causing a major liability accident, including Han Jianhua, a stakeholder in the coal mine, and Ma Xinghong, a legal representative of Hongxinyao Earth and Rock Engineering Company. The arrest of 13 of them has been approved by local procuratorates.

The coal mine was undergoing construction to be transformed from an underground mine into an open-pit mine when the accident happened. However, mining was not suspended as required while construction took place, the report said.

The risky and reckless operation of Hongxinyao, which had the contract for the transformation project but no certification for construction projects in mines, is to blame for the deadly collapse, according to an investigation report from the State Council released on Tuesday.

The direct cause of the accident was that the contractor didn't construct the transformation project as designed, and the violation resulted in an extremely high and steep slope, it said. The mining company conducted exploitation continuously in a highly intensive manner as the construction went on, which greatly undermined the stability of the slope.

The report also lashed out at local authorities for their loose and lax supervision over the mine, saying they neglected their supervisory duties and let major risks and hazards linger for an extended period of time until the accident happened.

In another case, a senior provincial-level official was put under investigation and another 58 officials were held accountable for a deadly fire in Anyang, Henan province on Nov 21 that claimed 42 lives.

On Tuesday, the State Council executive meeting approved the investigation report on the fire, which clarified that the direct cause of the blaze was the illegal operating practices of the manager of Kaixinda Trade Co.

The manager permitted the use of electric welding equipment on the company premises without a permit, according to the report.

The high-temperature welding slags ignited packing boxes, the polyurethane foam in the boxes exploded and the fire soon spread.

Firefighting equipment at the warehouse was in short supply while facilities on the second floor failed. Shangxin Garment Co on the second floor of the building didn't evacuate its workers soon enough after the fire started, causing a large number of casualties.

The report also singled out Sun Shougang, vice-governor of Henan, and said he should also be held accountable as he was found to have given inadequate guidance and poorly supervised local fire safety work. He was given an in-Party warning.

The Henan Public Security Department has criminally detained eight people from the two companies.

Another 58 officials involved in the accident were held accountable, among whom three were handed over to the local procuratorate for prosecution due to their dereliction of duty.

The investigation report said that the local authorities must plug the loopholes in fire safety for small and medium-sized companies, and should enhance random inspection at labor-intensive companies. It said the laws and regulations concerning fire safety must be improved and more professional firefighters must be trained to intensify fire safety.

Reporter: Hou Liqiang, Cheng Si

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