The two leaders of a northern Chinese town have been sacked after an illegal mining dam burst there, triggering a landslide that killed at least 56 people, state press said yesterday.
The Communist Party secretary and the mayor of Taoshi in Shanxi Province, as well as two work safety officials there, were dismissed following Monday’s disaster, Xinhua news agency said.
“Concerned departments in Xiangfen County [which oversees the township] have decided to sack the officials for lax work safety supervision and failure to strictly deal with hidden safety dangers,” the report said.
The incident occurred when a dike holding a tailing pond belonging to the Xinta Mining Company burst, sending torrents of mud and industrial sludge cascading down on a market, homes, a school and other buildings in Taoshi.
National work safety officials on Tuesday blamed the mine for the disaster, saying it was operating illegally and the stored waste ore dregs had surpassed the capacity of the reservoir.
Nine officials of the mining company, including the owner, have already been detained and could face criminal prosecution.
Fifty-six people have been confirmed dead and 35 injured, the latest official toll showed. The government has refused to say how many people are missing, but state media have said that “several hundred” may have disappeared.
Rescuers shoveled and hammered at debris yesterday, searching for survivors buried under sludge, mud and mining waste, but hopes of finding anybody alive faded.
A low-rise office building, a market and some houses were knocked down by the rapid surge of mud and mining waste, which formed a wall measuring three-stories high and 600m wide, media reports said.
Xinhua cited local government official Lian Zhendong as saying rescuers had searched through 70 percent of the rubble. But local officials said yesterday they feared the chances of survival were slim.
“There were survivors on the first day and on the second day, but from day three, it’s very likely that anyone we find in the future will be dead already,” said a woman surnamed Dong, who heads the propaganda department of Xiangfen County.
Dong said in a telephone interview that more than 2,000 police, firefighters and villagers were mobilized in the search, but conditions were difficult.
“There is mud everywhere,” said Dong, who was speaking from the site where excavators and front loaders were lifting earth and debris. “It is very hard for the machines to drive through the mud.”
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