Beijing - China has charged 48 government and mining officials and 10 journalists with covering up a deadly mine accident to avoid embarrassing Beijing ahead of last year's Olympics, state media said Monday.
The July 14, 2008 mining accident in the northern province of Hebei near Beijing killed 34 miners and was covered up for 85 days, the China Daily said.
According to the charges, mine bosses and officials in Yuxian county relocated bodies, destroyed evidence and paid journalists 2.6 million yuan ($380,000) to cover up the disaster, the report said.
"Relatives of the dead were kept quiet thanks to large payments and threats," the paper said.
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The identities of the journalists have not been revealed, the paper said.
Yuxian county is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Beijing.
The bribery charges followed an investigation into the cover-up by China's cabinet, the State Council, the report said.
It was not immediately clear when the trials would take place, but the paper said one of the 10 journalists was tried in April for taking bribes from Yuxian county officials. The report did not specify the outcome of that trial.
The officials also took out 250,000 yuan in advertisements from the newspaper that employed the journalist and paid 30,000 yuan in subscription fees, it said.
Over 3,200 miners were killed in China's mines in 2008, according to official figures, but worker's rights groups say the number is much larger as accidents are covered up to avoid costly mine shutdowns and fines.
China's coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety often ignored in the quest for profits and a drive to meet surging demand for coal, the source of about 70 percent of China's energy.
On November 21, 108 miners were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China. - Sapa-AFP
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