The death toll from one of China's biggest mining disasters in recent years rose to 140 yesterday, as angry relatives of the victims blamed the state-run mine's management for ignoring safety standards.
Nine miners were still listed as missing, more than 40 hours after the Sunday night cave-in at the state-run Dongfeng coal mine, near Qitaihe city in the northeast province of Heilongjiang, not far from the Russian border.
State press said six more bodies were pulled out of the rubble yesterday, bringing the death toll to 140. Another 72 miners had been rescued, the government's work safety watchdog said.
As rescue efforts continued for the nine still missing, the victims' relatives expressed anger and frustration at the Dongfeng mine's management for consistently ignoring safety concerns and exploiting the workers.
"They all knew there were safety problems but they wouldn't do anything about it," a woman surnamed Ge, who was waiting outside the mine on Monday night to hear news of two of her relatives, told reporters.
Ge said miners had in the past threatened to strike unless the poor safety standards were improved but the management had rejected their demands.
A woman surnamed Song said yesterday as she sat by her 18-year-old nephew, a survivor hauled out of the mine, at the local hospital that management had taken advantage of the desperation of the impoverished people in the area.
"It's all because they needed the money," she said, when asked why the workers went down the pit despite the dangers.
Qitaihe is a bleak coal mining town with virtually no other industry. It is less than 200km from Siberia.
"It's the officials who should have died, not the people who went down the shaft," Song said, adding workers received between 400 yuan and 1,000 yuan (US$49 and US$123) a month for their labors.
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