Local party chief probed after 82 killed in Chinese mining tragedy

BEIJING – A party chief in the northern coal-rich Chinese province of Shanxi is under investigation over "suspected serious violations of discipline and law", the local anti-graft agency said on Tuesday (June 2), after a mining tragedy last month that killed at least 82.

Zhao Yongjin, the top official of Qinyuan county, "is currently undergoing disciplinary review and a supervisory investigation by the provincial discipline inspection and supervision commission," a statement showed.

An initial probe into the deadliest mining accident in China since 2009 has uncovered concealed mining tunnels, falsified drawings and outsourced and unregistered ⁠miners, who had not been provided with required life-saving location trackers.

The government has pledged to leave no stone unturned in rooting out the cause of the incident.

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