The remaining three of a group of five miners trapped in a cave-in at a Heilongjiang Province coal mine were rescued yesterday.

The miners had been trapped underground for more than 60 hours, after the accident in the Xing'an Coal Mine in the mining town of Hegang, 400 kilometres northeast of provincial capital Harbin, at around 9am on Thursday.

Nine miners were buried in the collapse, four of whom have now been confirmed dead, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

Rescue workers released two miners by 8pm on Saturday, while the final three were found at 2am yesterday.

The Xing'an Coal Mine is a large State-owned mine with an annual production capability of 3.1 million tons.

Meanwhile investigators have discovered that a mining disaster in Southwest China's Guizhou Province was caused by negligence.

Eight miners were killed in the May 16 accident in Qianxi County.

And investigators have now discovered that there were signs of danger at the mine, but managers failed to take safety precautions.

Further inquiries are being made to find out who was responsible for the disaster.
County chiefs resign

County chiefs in North China's Shanxi Province have resigned in the wake of the worst disaster to hit China's mining industry so far this year.

Zuoyun county chief Zhang Mingsheng and his deputy Shi Lu resigned following the flooding at the Xinjing coal mine, where 56 miners are still trapped beneath ground.

There is little hope that any of the trapped miners are still alive.

The standing committee of the county's people's congress announced over the weekend that it has accepted their resignations.

The resignations come after the local Party stripped them of their posts on the Party committee on May 28.

At least 266 miners were working underground when the mine flooded on May 18.

Although 210 managed to escape, managers initially reported that only five miners were trapped.

Managers even hired taxis to ferry victims' families to the neighbouring Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to prevent them talking to reporters and revealing the truth about the disaster.

The State Council has set up an investigation team, headed by State Administration of Work Safety Director Li Yizhong, to look into the disaster.

Police have detained 11 mine executives and contractors thought to be responsible for the flooding.

They were detained after manager Wang Jingxing was caught in hiding in Henan Province in Central China on Saturday.

Wang, 35, is suspected to have instructed miners to tunnel into an neighbouring abandoned mine, triggering the flood.

Along with the other managers he did not report the accident or attempt to rescue the trapped miners, but rather fled from the flooded mine.

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