Serious problems remain in China's coal production and road transport industries, said Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) in Beijing Monday.

Li made the remark in response to four tragic events in the past two days.

A gas blast on Sunday hit Luweitan Colliery in Linfen City, North China's Shanxi Province, killing all 24 miners underground. On the same day, 20 people riding in the back of a truck were killed when the vehicle overturned in the northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

On Saturday, 22 miners died in a coal mine explosion in Jixi, a city in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, and 32 people died in a gas blast in the Changyuan Colliery in the southwestern Yunnan Province.

Illegal practices were rampant in coal production and road transport, Li told an emergency meeting of the SAWS.

Some illegal coal mines continue production despite orders to close, and the safety management in some collieries was chaotic with serious overcapacity and staff problems, he said, urging local authorities to enhance supervision over coal production and road transport.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2006)