Nineteen people held responsible for the severe coal mine gas explosion that killed 51 last year in east China's Jiangxi Province received punishments Tuesday by the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety and the Ministry of Supervision.

The accident on Nov. 14 at Jianxin Coal Mine of the Fengcheng Mining Administration resulted in the death of 51 people and a direct economic loss of 3.62 million yuan (436,145 US dollars).

The investigation team organized by the State Council confirmed the accident occurred due to dereliction of duty.

Wan Huojin, director of the Fengcheng Mining Administration, Zhong Caigui, director responsible for the safety work of the safety supervision bureau of the Fengcheng Mining Administration, Zhang Fayuan, director of the Jianxin Coal Mine, and Zhou Xiaoling, deputy director of the Jianxin Coal Mine were removed from their post.

All of the four have also received punishments within the Communist Party of China (CPC) as the former three were discharged from their respective posts in the party.

Gan Zongtao, chief engineer of the Jianxin Coal Mine, and Feng Wuhua, deputy chief engineer of the coal mine, were also dismissed from their post.

Moreover, the rest accused of dereliction of duty in the accident were also punished.

Source: Xinhua