The police in Chengde, a cityin north China's Hebei Province, announced here Tuesday that they had detained four suspects accused of responsibility for a coal mine explosion killing at least 45 miners.

All the suspects are from Nuan'erhe Mining Co. Ltd., including General Manager Zheng Baozhang, Deputy General Manager in Charge of Work Safety Wang Yanghui, Section Chief of Work Safety Song Mingjie, On-Duty Dispatcher Fan Bao'an, according to the local police.

In the meantime, Wang Tangsheng, chairman of the board of Nuan'erhe Mining Co. Ltd., and Lin Zaifeng, chief dispatcher with the same company and deputy manager for production, have also been put under house arrest, said the police sources.

The coal mine explosion occurred at around 3:00 a.m. last Thursday when 85 miners were working underground at the Nuan'erhe Coal Mine, Chengde City. Thirty-four of them were lifted up to the ground, and 51 others were trapped.

Rescue workers only saved one miner from the explosion scene, and discovered 45 bodies. Another five miners remain missing.

An expert with the rescue headquarters said the five miners who remained missing for the time being might be buried under the debris produced beneath the shaft and the hope of their return alive seemed slim.

Cause of the explosion is under investigation.

Located at Nanzhangzi Village in Bajia Township, the coal mine used to be state-owned, but was auctioned to the Beijing Guodian Zhongneng Electric Fuel Investment Co., Ltd. for 65 million yuan (about 7.8 million US dollars) in December 2003.

Source: Xinhua