The State Council's work safety committee yesterday urged relevant authorities to take urgent actions to curb the spate of accidents that have rocked China in recent weeks.

A committee circular stated that thorough investigations must be carried out to find the causes of the accidents and that those guilty of corruption and neglect of duty must be held to account.

Investigations must be completed into some of the major accidents and the results must be made public, the circular says.

China has seen a spate of major accidents in the last few weeks.

On October 28, 13 workers were killed in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region when the oil tank they were painting exploded.

On November 5, a gas explosion in the Jiaojiazhai colliery, Datong City of Shanxi Province killed 47 miners.

On November 12, 34 miners were killed in Nanshan colliery of Lingshi County, also in Shanxi, when a fire broke out in the pit.

Figures from the State Administration of Work Safety show that China recorded 532,101 industrial accidents between January and October, killing 92,437 people.

The committee called for solid measures to be taken to improve safety measures in vulnerable industries.

With immediate effect, authorities must stop approving new collieries with a capacity of under 300,000 tons a year, the circular says.

(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2006)