A total of 45 people, including 28 officials, have been prosecuted for an explosion at a gold mine in Qixia, eastern China's Shandong province, that killed 10 people and one miner missing.
According to the report of the investigation team, the cause of the incident was illegal storage and use of explosives, as well as improper operation at the mine mouth.
The accident investigation team's report also noted that Shandong Wucailong Investment Co. Ltd., which owns the gold mine, and the Qixia City authorities withheld information about the accident and delayed reporting of the incident.
The public security authorities opened criminal cases and launched an investigation against Yao Xiuxia, who was secretary of the Qixia City CPC committee at the time of the gold mine accident, and Zhu Tao, then deputy secretary of the city party committee and mayor of Qixia City, who are responsible for untimely reporting of the accident and hiding information about the incident.
A total of 22 miners were trapped about 600 meters underground on January 10 following an explosion at a mine in Qixia, which is administratively subordinate to Yantai. The surviving 11 miners were rescued after being trapped in a trap for two weeks after the incident. One miner is still missing. The accident resulted in direct economic losses of over 68 million yuan (about US $ 10.5 million).
