Accidents -- including coal mine explosions, fires and traffic accidents -- killed 112,822 people in China in 2006, down 11.2 percent year on year, according to statistics from the Administration of Work Safety.

There were 95 major accidents involving more than 10 deaths.

Traffic accidents remained the number one killer, claiming 89,455 lives, 9.4 percent less than 2005.

There were 2,945 coal mine accidents in 2006, in which 4,746 people died -- a drop of 20 percent on the previous year but nevertheless equivalent to 13 miners dead per day.

Though the situation has improved overall, production safety remains grim in some sectors where outdated facilities and a lack of safety awareness endanger people's lives, said State Councilor Hua Jianmin at the fifth plenary session of the production safety committee under the State Council, or China's cabinet, on Wednesday.

Hua said the government will double its efforts in 2007 to improve production safety, especially in sectors like coal mining that are plagued by accidents.

According to Hua, China wants to make coal mine gas a new energy source rather than the number one underground killer. The government will also continue its campaign to shut down unsafe small coal mines.

Source: Xinhua