All collieries must issue safety handbooks to miners free of charge by the end of the year to strengthen safety at mines throughout China.

The move is a requirement by the State work safety administration, according to Xinhua.

The handbooks should include the rights and obligations of miners, an introduction to possible accidents, emergency treatment measures and telephone numbers to report disasters.

Coal mines can draft the handbook themselves, the State Administration of Work Safety said.

The handbooks must have pictures and the language should be simple and easily understood, according to the administration.

General information and specific conditions of the related coal mine will be in every handbook.

During the National Day holiday, three major accidents occurred, in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Central China's Henan Province.

In the Sichuan accident, in the Longtan Coal mine in Guang'an, 11 were killed and another 17 were still missing as water flooded the mine, according to sources with the State Administration of Work Safety Wednesday. The flooding accident occurred on Tuesday at the State-owned key coal mine. Fifty miners were working underground.

Beginning construction in 2003, the coal mine was designed to produce 550,000 tons of coal per year, sources said. An underground river was dug into during work in the mine which was possibly the cause of the accident, local media reported.

The local government has set up four teams to carry out rescue work.

Meanwhile 10 miners were confirmed dead Wednesday in the accident in Yatuer Colliery in Baicheng County of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Another four were still missing last night.

Explosions occurred on Tuesday in the township joint-stock coal mine with a designed annual output of 30,000 tons of coal. Twenty-five miners were in the mine; 11 of them were rescued.

Minister of the State Administration of Work Safety Li Yizhong said the autonomous region's work safety authority must assist the local government in rescuing those still stranded.

Thirty-four were killed in an accident in a mine in Hebi of Henan Province. The cause of the explosion was still under investigation, sources said.

Township coal mines can ask other organizations to do the handbook work. Work safety departments above county level can also draft the books. They must be updated to meet the requirements of the latest situation, the administration said.

Source: China Daily