A local court in northern Hebei Province Thursday handed down sentences to 21 people who are connected with a fatal mine explosion that claimed 26 lives early last year.

The Intermeditate People's Court of Handan City sentenced Gao Huailiang to death on charges of illegally producing, trading and transporting explosives. Gao was also deprived of his political right for life.

The court sentenced Zhang Jianjun, Zhang Junqi, and Lei Yandong to death with a two-year reprieve on charges of illegally trading, transporting and mining. The three were fined up to 4.8 million yuan (US$703,000).

Seventeen others were given jail terms of up to life imprisonment on similar charges.

The criminals were convicted of either illegally establishing and operating an iron mine or supplying the mine with homemade explosives.

Part of the unused explosives stored in a shaft of the mine suddenly ignited on February 17, 2008, killing 26 miners working underground.

The mine was set up in 2004 in Wu'an City under a wild boar farm. The mine owners built walls to block the view of the farm from the outside, camouflaging the illegal mining operation.

(Xinhua News Agency January 1, 2010)