Officials prosecuted in China for coal mine deaths

China has dismissed two provincial deputy governors and prosecuted 96 officials blamed for six high-profile coal mine accidents that killed a total of 528 people over the past 13 months, the government announced today.

The announcement came at a joint news conference by the country’s top industrial safety and mining officials about efforts to reduce the carnage in China’s coal mines, where accidents kill more than 5,000 miners a year.