"Official fired after cover-up of fatal mining accident", 15 Aug 2017

The apparent cover-up of a deadly landslide in a mining area has led to the dismissal of one official after a company head turned himself in to police...according to a report by state-owned China National Radio (CNR)...

The accident occurred on Friday in Heshun County, in northern China’s Shanxi province, killing four people with five still missing. However, the local government initially said on Saturday that no one had died or gone missing, according to CNR...it was only after Gao [head of Lüxin Coal Industry Co...the mining company where the landslide occurred] turned himself in that the government came to know the truth of the mining accident...

Later the same day, the head of the county’s coal bureau was fired for being negligent in his handling of the accident. According to China’s production safety laws, local government officials and business owners can face legal punishment if they attempt to cover up work accidents or fail to report them to authorities in a timely fashion...

According to CNR, local police also detained a person surnamed Guo...for posting “fake information” online saying that people had died in the landslide...Guo was [later] released... following the revelation that the landslide had indeed been fatal.