Seventy-one miners were working underground when the blast at the Daxian mine occurred. Of the 33 workers killed, 28 died from the initial explosion and five others perished attempting to rescue survivors trapped inside. Of the 43 survivors, 24 were hospitalized, with 18 of them suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, doctors at the Yu county hospital told Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, on December 12 a coal mine flood in Guizhou province occurred while 80 miners were working underground. So far, 44 have been rescued. Workers continue to search for the remaining 36.

Throughout China, 5,286 deaths of miners have been reported in the first 11 months this year in explosions, floods, and other disasters. Methane gas explosions are a major cause of disasters, with more than 2,100 miners killed in 596 such blasts in 2003, according to statistics from China’s State Administration of Work Safety.

“It’s a problem of mine management and a lack of safety awareness,” An Yuanjie, propaganda director for the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, told the French Press Agency (AFP). “Over production exceeding mine capacity, especially in the small mines where there is already a lack of safety facilities, as well as inadequate investment in safety infrastructure, these are all the reasons that are causing these coal mine disasters,” she said.

Joseph Main, the health and safety director for the United Mine Workers of America visited China in June. “The mines that are controlled by the state… through the national government structure—those mines are more capitalized, having better equipment, better conditions, than many of the township mines, private small mines. And, many of those… lack the basic protections that are needed for mining, to make sure than miners are not killed,” he said.

According to AFP, the Chinese government has said it has closed down 60,000 small mines in the last decade because they were considered unsafe and inefficient. But because of the soaring demand for coal, many of these mines are now reopening.

China’s rapidly growing energy consumption—70 percent of which is coal-generated—has resulted in a surge in the demand for coal. “Power demand in China in 2002 was just above 10 gigawatts and at the end of 2004 is expected to climb to 40,” said Howard Schwab, an analyst at Driehaus Capital Management, according to a November 28 article in CBS Market Watch. Production methods and equipment are relatively backward in China’s mines. A coal miner in China produces on average 320 tons a year—just 2 percent of the average production per coal miner in the United States and 8 percent of the same figure in South Africa. This usually means many more miners are employed in a given area when a disaster occurs.

In addition to mine disasters, Xinhua reports 5,000 people die in China each year from pneumoconiosis, a pulmonary disease caused by mine dust inhalation—commonly known as “black lung.”

According to Wang Xianzheng, an official with the State Administration of Work Safety, about 600,000 miners currently suffer from pneumoconiosis. This figure is reportedly increasing by 70,000 miners each year.

Despite the severity of the problem today, injuries and deaths in the mines were even higher in the past. Officials report mine safety has improved recently as a result of increased inspections and stricter enforcement of safety regulations. In the first 11 months of this year, reported deaths from mine accidents dropped by 8 percent compared to the same period in 2003.
 
 
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