Dereliction of duty and abuse of power were to blame for coal mine disasters that led to deaths and injuries, according to a report by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

Forty-six officials were charged with malfeasance following investigations into nine major blasts in 2005, which claimed more than 270 lives, according to the SPP report released yesterday.

It said the accidents were caused by violation of safety rules. Mine owners ordered excessive operations regardless of production limits.

"Such illegal operations are closely linked with the criminal negligence of government officials in carrying out supervision," said a spokesman with the SPP's anti-dereliction bureau.

"In many cases, malfeasance is the result of corruption, which in turn, aids and abets such official negligence," the official said.

The report also found some officials had invested in the coal mines they supervised or ensured certain mines were operated by their relatives or friends.

Some specific cases were detailed in the report.

Hu Jianchang, former deputy director of the Guangdong provincial administration for work safety, was charged last June with dereliction of duty and taking more than 530,000 yuan ($70,000) in bribes following the flooding of a coal mine that left 121 people dead in 2005. Hu was sentenced to three years in jail in March.

In another case at the Jiajiabao Coal Mine in Ningwu County of North China's Shanxi Province in 2005, two senior party officials were found to have helped mine owners hide the bodies of 17 miners after a gas explosion.

Source: China Daily