On Thursday, as last Saturday's deadly explosion at the Xishui
coal mine in Shanxi
Province claimed its 70th victim, compensation payments to
families began.
Families of two victims from Zhejiang
and Hubei
provinces each received 200,000 yuan (US$24,000) from the mine's
operators while families of two other victims signed similar
contracts for the same amount, according to local government.
The Shanxi Provincial government issued a regulation last year
saying compensation for a miner killed in coal mine accident must
be no less than 200,000 yuan. The regulation has been applied to
three recent accidents in the province.
The payouts started even as the death toll rose to 70 early
Thursday morning.
The blast occurred last Saturday afternoon at the Xishui
Colliery in Shuozhou, also damaging the nearby Kangjiayao coal
mine.
Also on Thursday, a coal mine explosion in central China’s Hunan
Province killed eight workers and injured six others, according
to the provincial coal mine safety administration.
The explosion occurred at about 1:00 PM at the Antangshan mine,
located in Tianxin township, Jiahe County. By about 5:30 PM rescue
and recovery teams had brought the survivors and the bodies out of
the tunnels.
The injured are hospitalized and in stable condition, according
to the administration.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2005)