What’s new: Three emergency response officials in Yantai, Shandong province, were placed under investigation over the past week in an unfolding anti-graft campaign triggered by two deadly mining incidents in the northeastern city.
The three being probed for “principle and law violations” include Yu Jianping, deputy director of Yantai Emergency Management Bureau; Zhang Guangmin, a senior inspector at the bureau; and Liu Tengyun, an official overseeing gold mine safety.
The investigations followed two deadly gold mine incidents that killed at least 16 people in the city.
The background: Yantai’s production safety supervisory system was rattled by the two fatal disasters since the beginning of the year.
In January, a gold mine explosion in Qixia trapped 22 miners underground and sparked a two-week rescue effort. Ten people were found dead. Following the incident, two top officials in Qixia, under the jurisdiction of Yantai, were put under criminal detention for an attempted cover-up.
One month later, another gold mine fire killed six people in Zhaoyuao, sparking concerns over mining risks in the region.
Related: In Depth: China’s Unfinished Fight for Mine Safety
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com).
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