China coal mine accidents, death toll decline

Coal mining safety in China has continued to improve since the beginning of the year, with declines in both accidents and deaths, said the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) Tuesday.

Accidents this year dropped 33.2 percent to 256, while deaths decreased 39 percent to 420, said SAWS vice director Yang Yuanyuan at a national conference.

Meanwhile, it has been 29 months since China saw its last "extremely big accident", in which 30 or more died, the longest in history.

China will shut down 1,052 small coal mines with production capacity lower than 10,000 tonnes in 2015 and keep the number of coal mines nationwide under 10,000, said SAWS spokesperson Huang Yi. Endit