China charges 48 over mining accident cover up
![Coalminers wait for their shift at a coal mine outside Jincheng City in north China's Shanxi province March 1, 2007. China has charged 48 government and mining officials and 10 journalists with covering up a deadly mine accident. [Reuters]](http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200810/r307011_1343083.jpg "Coalminers wait for their shift at a coal mine outside Jincheng City in north China's Shanxi province March 1, 2007. China has charged 48 government and mining officials and 10 journalists with covering up a deadly mine accident. [Reuters]")
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Coalminers wait for their shift at a coal mine outside Jincheng City in north China's Shanxi province March 1, 2007. China has charged 48 government and mining officials and 10 journalists with covering up a deadly mine accident. [Reuters]
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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.
The accident on July 14, 2008 happened in the northern province of Hebei near Beijing and killed 34 miners.
The mining disaster was covered up for 85 days.
The China Daily reports according to the charges, mine bosses and officials in Yuxian county relocated bodies, destroyed evidence and paid journalists $US380,000 dollars to cover up the disaster.
The paper says relatives of the dead were kept quiet thanks to large payments and threats. The identities of the journalists involved have not been revealed.
Yuxian county is about 80 kilometres west of Beijing.
China Daily says the bribery charges followed an investigation into the cover-up by China's cabinet, the State Council.
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