China's safety supervisor said on Sunday in Beijing that by Dec. 19, altogether 2,411 coal mines had been closed down across the country due to safety problems.

The State Administration of Coal Mine Work Safety announced here on Sunday a namelist of the first batch of 1,044 closed coal mines.

Among these closed mines, 59 were in Beijing, 125 in Hebei Province, 386 in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 70 in Jiangxi Province, 58 in Hubei Province, and 135 in Sichuan Province.

According to regulations on coal mine work safety promulgated by the State Council, the Chinese cabinet, coal mines which failed to get safety licenses within a certain duration must stop production for rectification. If they could not pass the safety check later, the mines should be shut down.

By Dec. 19, altogether 12,990 coal mines were ordered to stop production due to safety problems and 2,411 of them have been closed down, said sources with the administration.

In recent years, the Chinese government has adopted a series of regulations and measures to improve coal mine safety.

But the situation remains grave, as official statistics showed that from January to September this year, 4,228 people had been killed in 2,337 coal mine accidents.

Source: Xinhua