On the eve of the Spring Festival, a gold mine in Zhaoyuan City, Yantai, Shandong Province, China, recently had a cage accident that resulted in 7 deaths. At the same time, China's Ministry of Emergency Management held a meeting, requiring full efforts to stabilize and control the safety situation before and after the Spring Festival, and to strengthen risk prevention for various types of accidents and disasters.
According to Chinese state media Xinhua Net, the Zhaoyuan Emergency Management Bureau reported that at about 8 a.m. on the 7th, a cage accident occurred at the Canzhuang Gold Mine in Zhaoyuan City, resulting in 7 deaths. Aftermath arrangements are ongoing. Emergency, public security and other relevant departments have launched simultaneous investigations into the cause of the accident and issues such as suspected cover-ups by the enterprise.
According to the official website of China's Ministry of Emergency Management, the Ministry convened a meeting on the 9th to redeploy and implement the prevention and response work for accidents and disasters before and after the Spring Festival.
The meeting pointed out that recently, major near-miss incidents and relatively serious accidents have occurred frequently, requiring measures to be taken and strict prevention and control of safety risks in key areas. It emphasized deeply drawing lessons from recent incidents, investigating and rectifying hidden dangers by analogy, "doing enough, doing thoroughly, and doing everything properly in preventive work, and resolutely preventing and curbing major and especially serious accidents."
The meeting called for relevant departments to strengthen safety supervision of road traffic, railway and civil aviation transportation, manage fire and stampede risks at popular tourist attractions and large-scale events with dense crowds, and ensure comprehensive safety management of the entire chain involving the production, operation, transportation, storage, and display of fireworks and firecrackers.
The meeting also stated that efforts should be made with care and empathy to provide winter-spring assistance and ensure affected people have a warm winter. Localities should be urged to quickly distribute the central government's winter-spring relief funds, re-investigate the housing, heating, and other conditions of the disaster-affected population, and promptly verify and resolve any problems found.