China Update
Published by MAC on 2006-07-20
China Update
20th July 2006
China's unabated holocaust
On just one day last week, three disasters at Chinese coal mines claimed the lives of more than sixty miners, leaving 26 others trapped.
Although official government figures show that just under six thousand miners (5,986) were killed last year, the China Labour Bulletin has learned from a government source that the true toll of such deaths is actually around 20,000 per year.
Another government report reveals that the cost of coping with occupational and work-related illnesses has now reached US$12.5 billion. The vast majority suffer from pneumoconiosis as a result of long-term inhalation of dust primarily from mining, sand blasting, metal grinding and gemstone cutting.