BEIJING, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Five managers of a coal mine in central China have been jailed over a 2009 gas explosion that killed 76 miners, authorities said.
Five executives at the mine in Pingdingshan in Henan Province became the first mine managers to be convicted of endangering public safety, China's state run Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday.
Mine manager Li Xinjun and Han Erjun, deputy manager for technical maintenance, were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.
Hou Min, a deputy manager responsible for safety, was sentenced to life in prison and Deng Shujun, a deputy manager in charge of production, received a 15-year jail term.
An assistant manager, Yuan Yingzhou, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for organizing illegal and risky operations.
The blast that ripped through the pit on Sept. 8, 2009, killed 76 miners and injured another 15 people.
A shaft collapse three days before had destroyed ventilation equipment, and gas sensors which the management had ordered disabled, failed to warn of the high level of gas, the court said.
The defendants were fully aware of the high level of gas in the pit but still organized large numbers of miners to work underground, prosecutors said.
