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   Vol. 71/No. 4           January 29, 2007  
 
 
Thirteen miners a day killed on job in China
 
BY JACOB PERASSO  
Thirteen miners were killed and nine injured in a January 12 gas explosion at the Niuxinhui Coal Mine in Shanxi province, China. Thirty miners were working underground at the time of the blast. Three unnamed government officials in northern China were blamed for the accident and fired for lax supervision, according to the Brunei Times.

In a separate incident, a Chinese reporter, Lan Chengzhang, working for China Trade News, was reportedly attacked and beaten by unknown assailants while conducting interviews January 9 at a coal mine in Shanxi. He died from his wounds the next day.

Shanxi is a center of the country’s coal mining industry.

Last year 4,746 miners—an average of 13 a day—were killed on the job across the country. This represents a 20 percent decline in the toll among China’s coal mines compared to 2005.  
 
 
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