45 people, including city leaders, held accountable for fatal Shandong goldmine explosion
包括市领导在内的45人被追究山东金矿爆炸事故的责任
Forty-five people have been held responsible for the goldmine explosion which killed 10 miners, with one still missing, in Qixia, East China’s Shandong Province, media reported on Tuesday.
The fatal goldmine explosion took place on January 10, trapping 22 miners underground, but it was only reported to local authorities after 30 hours. An all-out rescue effort soon followed. The rescue operation was halted on January 25, with 11 miners rescued, 10 confirmed dead and one still missing.
After the rescue, the cause of the accident was not revealed immediately, but the local government and the provincial government set up a team of investigators to conduct a thorough probe into all aspects of the incident.
On Tuesday, investigators announced that the accident was found to be a major production safety accident caused by the illegal storage and use of civilian explosive materials and illegal fire operation at the wellhead, the People’s Daily reported on Tuesday.
The report said that the management of underground explosives was shoddy, and the goldmine owner, Shandong Wucailong Investment Co Ltd, failed to fulfill the main responsibility to guarantee safe production. In addition, relevant departments and the local government did not have systems in place for safety management.
Fifteen executives, including the legal representative of Wucailong Co and the project manager and actual controller of the two companies that outsourced the operation, were held criminally responsible according to the law.
The then-secretary of the CPC Qixia Municipal Committee Yao Xiuxia, the deputy secretary who’s also the mayor Zhu Tao, as well as the legal representative of Wucailong Co Jia Qiaoyu were investigated by the public security authorities for concealing and delayed reporting of the accident.
Twenty-eight key personnel of Yantai Municipal Party Committee and the municipal government were given Party disciplinary and organizational punishment.
Seven companies related to the accident were also punished according to the law.
