Monday's deadly flooding at the Luotuoshan Coal Mine in north China has sounded the alarm for work safety in the country, said legislator Wang Rungang, who is also spokesman of Wuhai Energy Co. Ltd. that runs the mine, Tuesday.

"Work safety requires constant and unremitting efforts," said Wang, who is in Beijing to attend the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature.

One miner has been confirmed dead and 31 others trapped or missing after water gushed into the mine in Wuhai City, more than 600 kilometers from Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, at around 7:30 a.m. Monday, according to local work safety authorities.

Preliminary investigations showed that the accident took place when workers extended a tunnel in the mine.

Luotuoshan Coal Mine is owned by Wuhai Energy Co. Ltd. and its parent company is Shenhua Group Corp. Ltd., one of China's major mining firms.

Wuhai city's Party chief Bai Xiangqun, who is also a deputy to the NPC, has headed for Luotuoshan Coal Mine after the accident.

"The accident came as a grave warning to the Shenhua Group," Wang Rungang said.

"Enterprises should take solid measures to safeguard the lives of their employees, as the government attaches great importance to work safety," he said, adding that he would make suggestions on coal mine work safety during the upcoming NPC session.

Work safety remains a chronic pain in China's development over the decades.

Huang Yi, spokesman of State Administration of Work Safety, told Xinhua Tuesday that more than 83,000 people died in about 380,000 work place accidents in 2009.

The figure translates into about 1,000 accidents and 220 fatalities each day. About half of China's major work place accidents were the result of illegal production, Huang said.

In 2009, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region replaced the northern Shanxi Province to become China's leading coal base with 637 million tonnes of output.

The region reported 33 deaths in 21 mine accidents, a fatality rate of 0.052 per million tonnes, one of the lowest among China's major coal bases.

According to Zhao Shuanglian, vice chairman of the government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, coal mines would be suspended from production or construction if they failed a safety check launched by the regional government after the Luotuoshan accident.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2010)