SHANGHAI (Reuters) - More than 200 miners are trapped and feared dead in a flooded tin mine in China's southern region of Guangxi, state media said on Tuesday, but mine officials said the reports were highly exaggerated. (Read map caption below).
The official Wenhui Daily said more than 70 bodies had been found and alleged that the mine owners had tried to stop news of the disaster spreading, partly by paying compensation to relatives to buy their silence.
Journalists from regional newspapers said they were barred from reporting on the disaster.
An official with Longquan Mining Company confirmed there was an accident at the mine on July 16, but he dismissed reports that more than 200 miners were trapped and 70 bodies found.
Miners work in three shifts, 24 hours a day in the 700-meter (2,300-foot) deep tin mine and there were usually between 200 and 300 miners on each shift, he said.
PERILOUS BUSINESS
Accidents at China's poorly regulated mines kill thousands of workers every year. On July 22, a blast at a coal mine in the Jiangsu province city of Xuzhou, 190 miles north of the provincial capital Nanjing, killed 92 miners.
Xinhua news agency said the coal mine was operating without a license and was ordered to halt production last month as part of a national crackdown on illegal mines, but it reopened in early July.
Last year, 5,300 deaths were reported in mining accidents in China. This year nearly 3,000 deaths have been officially reported.
The State Council, China's cabinet, ordered all state-owned mines to shut down for safety checks in mid-June and stepped up a crackdown on tens of thousands of illegal, privately-run mines across the country.
But the mines keep reopening in poor rural areas with high unemployment where workers are prepared to risk their lives for a job and a meager salary.
``There are many small mines in China that haphazardly explore and exploit resources,'' said Wang Jun, analyst at Antaike Information Development Company. ``This can be quite dangerous as some collapse easily.''
MAP CAPTION:
Last week, about 100 miners were killed after an explosion at an illegal coal mine in eastern China. China's mining industry is the world's largest, but has a poor safety record, with an average of 7,000 deaths each year.Last month, the government launched a crackdown on tens of thousands of illegal, privately-run mines and ordered all small, state-owned mines to close for safety checks.Most miners come from poor rural areas with high unemployment, and are willing to jeopardise their lives to earn a living. (BBC).