A Jan. 10 explosion at a gold mine in Qixia in eastern China’s Shandong province set off a desperate search and rescue mission for trapped miners. Two weeks later, 11 of them emerged from the collapsed mine, but 10 more were found dead and another person is still missing.
The catastrophe was only the latest to strike China’s massive and still-dangerous mining industry. Authorities punished the operator of the Qixia gold mine, Shandong Wucailong Investment Co. Ltd., and removed two top city officials for their responsibility in the incident.