From AFP:
Chinese authorities are investigating local officials who allegedly hid or downplayed two deadly mining accidents that killed at least 75 people, state media said Thursday.
Twenty-two officials are under investigation and one has been arrested on suspicion of covering up a mine explosion that killed more than 30 miners in Hebei province in northern China on July 14, the China Daily said.
Separately, it said an investigation had been launched after it was discovered that a mine dam had burst in nearby Shanxi province on August 1, killing 45 people.
From state media China Daily:
A total of 22 officials are being investigated and one has been arrested, accused of covering up a mine explosion that killed more than 30 miners in Hebei province on July 14, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The blast in the unlicensed Lijiawa mine in Yuxian county was set off by explosives illegally stored down the shaft.
Relatives of the dead were kept quiet with payments and threats, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.
