Society

Tin mine blamed for dam collapse

By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-27 07:54

Rescuers carry a miner onto an ambulance after being rescued from a tin mine after a dam at the mine collapsed due to a landslide in Songtao County, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept 26, 2010. All the eight trapped miners were rescued Sunday afternoon. [Photo/Xinhua]

GUANGZHOU - Local authorities have begun an investigation into a local mine company after a dam at the mine collapsed, leaving dozens killed or missing in the floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fanapi.

"The investigation is under way. But one thing for sure is that the company, to some degree, should be held responsible for the disaster," Tang Hao, secretary-general of the Guangdong provincial government, said at a press conference on Sunday.

A dam at the Xinyi Yinyan Tin Mine, owned by Fujian-based Zijin Mining Group, in Maoming city of Guangdong, collapsed on Tuesday after being hit by a landslide, leaving 28 people killed or missing, sources with the Guangdong provincial government said.

A special team, headed by Zhu Mingguo, deputy Party chief of Guangdong province, arrived at the dam on Thursday to conduct the investigation after many local villagers reported illegal practices of the Xinyi mine to the provincial government following the landslide.

An initial investigation showed that the Xinyi mine destroyed vegetation along the upper reaches of a local river during its operation in the past years.

However, water discharged from the dam has been tested to have no harmful chemicals, sources with Guangdong provincial environmental protection authorities said.

According to Hong Kong-based Takungpao, several managers of the Xinyi mine have been held by police to provide assistance in the investigation.

"It is a human-made disaster rather than a natural one. The mine should be blamed for the disaster," a local villager surnamed Li told the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily.

Floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fanapi have so far claimed 75 lives in Guangdong province, with some 61 still missing, local authorities said on Sunday.

Typhoon Fanapi was the 11th and the strongest to hit the country so far this year, battering most of the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong provinces with heavy rains and strong winds last week.

Some 128,000 people in Guangdong province had to be evacuated, with 16,000 houses completely destroyed, sources with the Guangdong provincial government said.

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In total, 1.56 million people in nine cities in western and eastern parts of Guangdong have been affected by the floods and landslides.

As of Sunday, some 24 roads in the western parts of Guangdong, many of which are connected to villages hard hit by the floods and landslides, are still blocked.

"We are organizing all possible forces to repair the roads. We have assured people affected by the disaster that they will move to new and safe houses by the end of this year," Tang said.

After Fanapi, one or two more strong typhoons are expected to again batter the province this year, according to Qiu Dehua, director of the Guangdong provincial flood control and drought relief center.

Rescuers carry a miner pulled out from a tin mine who had been trapped after a dam at the mine collapsed due to a landslide in Songtao County, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept 26, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]