SHAANXI

8 missing after gas outburst at coal mine

Eight miners are missing after a suspected gas outburst at a coal mine in Shaanxi province on Wednesday, the local government said. The accident occurred at about 1 pm in Tongchuan, Shaanxi, when 42 miners were working underground. Thirty-four were lifted to safety, and a rescue operation to save the others is underway. The Tongchuan government's emergency management department said the city's leaders arrived at the scene to lead the rescue effort, which involves departments including emergency management, health and fire services.

SHANDONG

Ex-prison officials admit malpractice

Three former prison officials in Shandong province pleaded guilty to malpractice at their trials on Wednesday after their behavior led to dozens of inmates and staff members being infected with novel coronavirus early this year. The three defendants were Wang Wenjie, former deputy director of the province's prison administration, Liu Baoshan, the former head of Rencheng Prison, and Deng Tihe, its former deputy head. Prosecutors said Wang, who had been responsible for handling, coordinating and preventing COVID-19 in the provincial prison system since Jan 23, should be held criminally liable for failing to realize the sensitivity and complexity of epidemic control in prisons, dropping his guard and exercising a lack of supervision in the fight against the outbreak. Prosecutors charged Liu and Deng with malpractice for failing to strictly check the health condition of staff members at the prison and failing to properly control gatherings and movements of inmates.

XINJIANG

Building of rail bridge in desert on track

The construction of an 8.6-kilometer railway bridge in the Taklimakan Desert, China's largest desert, will be completed by the end of this month, its builders said. The Yimlakut Bridge is the longest of the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway's five bridges built over sand, which in total account for 53.7 km of the 825-km railway in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The bridge covers a section of the Taklimakan Desert where sand dunes move an average of 20 meters a year, said Zhang Gang, a project manager with the China Railway 14th Bureau Group, which is overseeing the line's construction.

Xinhua - China Daily