Hundreds of rescue workers relied on picks, shovels, and bare hands to reach the buried miners. A mine official told the press, "We're using human power only, no machines. It's too dangerous to use machines or explosives."

The mine ventilation system was shut down by the explosion and the shafts were blocked by rubble. A gas explosion killed more than 80 miners there in 1983.

China produces 25 percent of the world's coal, but accounts for 80 percent of all mining fatalities. In 20 other accidents in Guizhou province since mid-July, 136 miners have died, according to the Chinese press. So far this year, more than 2,730 have perished in China's mines.

News reports state that a large share of these deaths occur in small unlicensed mines. The Muchonggou coal mine is a licensed state-owned mine, employing 4,000 workers. The bulk of the factories and other means of production are state-owned in China, where workers and peasants made a socialist revolution and overturned capitalist rule five decades ago.

But the bureaucratic regime in Beijing has increasingly relied on capitalist market methods to determine economic priorities. As a result, administrators and Communist Party officials prioritize spending on new production lines rather than upgrading safety measures.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home