China is suspending production at 7,000 coal mines - nearly one-third of the nationwide total - in a safety crackdown on the accident-plagued industry.
The mines, most of them small and poorly equipped, will be required to improve safety measures and will not be allowed to reopen if they fail to meet national standards, the China Dailynewspaper reported.
The announcement came two days after 123 miners missing in a flooded coal mine in southern China were declared dead in a highly publicised disaster. 11mine officials blamed for the accident have been detained and two local mayors dismissed.
So far, 1,324 mines have closed, and the rest must suspend production by the end of the year, the China Dailysaid. It said China's energy supplies should not be affected, because the mines account for only a small fraction of coal output.
China has about 24,000 coal mines, according to the government.
Fires, floods and other accidents killed more than 5,000 Chinese coal miners last year. Many of the accidents are blamed on lack of fire-control and ventilation equipment or failure to enforce safety rules.
Despite repeated official promises to tighten enforcement, the death toll in coal mine accidents rose 33 per cent in the first half of this year to 2,672, according to the government.
PA