The Xiaojiawan mine, which has little modern equipment, was unusually narrow and was supposed to have no more than 75 miners. But when the explosion took place, 154 miners were underground.
"After the incident, the mine could not provide a map showing the layout of the pit. When its technicians were asked to draw the map of the mazelike pit for rescuers, they kept changing it (because they did not know the layout)," said group leader Yang Dongliang, head of the State Administration of Work Safety.
The mine owner resorted to deception when reporting the accident, saying there were fewer miners at the site.
The confusion with the map and the misleading report hindered rescue operations, said Yang, who said he was puzzled how a mine with so many problems could have all the required operating certificates.
Nationally, 5 million miners work at annual production of 3.5 billion tons of coal, said Yang.
Yang said he was astonished by the poor living and working conditions generally found at coal mines.
According to Liu Jie, deputy governor of Sichuan, the mine passed a safety check in the province one month before the explosion.
"For personal gain, some government officials help businessmen at the expense of public interest," the deputy governor said angrily.
Liu promised that any officials involved in fraud at the mine would face severe punishment.
Yang Shuwen, an official with the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said that during the accident investigation, procuratorial agencies will probe whether government workers had been derelict in duty, showed favoritism, or otherwise undermined the law, making them accountable to the victims' families.
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