58 Charged in Coal Mine Accident Cover-up

In China, 48 officials and 10 reporters have been charged with bribery. State-run China Daily reported on Monday that they helped cover up a coal mine accident last year that killed 35 people.

Officials in Yuxian county, Hebei province allegedly paid the journalists the equivalent of $380,000 U.S. dollars in exchange for not reporting the incident. The officials also bribed and threatened the families of the dead mine workers to keep silent.

The accident had happened on July 14, 2008—three weeks ahead of the Olympics—a time when authorities were being extra careful to ensure nothing would go wrong.

Its common for Chinese officials to keep disasters quiet, because they can be punished by their superiors if incidents happen in their locales.

The charges on Monday come after more than a hundred people were killed in three separate mining accidents across China in the past two weeks.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• NTD
• NTDTV
• China
• News
• Coal Mine
• China Daily
• Victims
• Yuxian county
• Hebei Province
• Accident
• Disaster
• Bribery
• Officials
• Charge

[videochemist]

sounds about right.

who wants to bet at least some of those charged were scapegoats?