URUMQI, July 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A group of safety loopholes collectively caused the coal mine blast in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said the country's top work safety watchdog here on Tuesday.

    Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration for Work Safety, made the remarks while referring to the accident that took place in the Shenlong Mine of Fukang County, 62 km away from the regional capital of Urumqi, early Monday morning.

    Seventy-six miners have been confirmed dead in the accident and seven others remain missing as of 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Only four out of the 87 people working underground when the accident happened escaped alive.

    According to Li, overproduction, lack of a work safety license and ill-management should be blamed for the tragic accident.

    The colliery produced some 180,000 tons of coal in the first half of this year, far exceeding its annual capacity of 30,000 tons and leading to an extremely high gas density in the colliery shaft.

    Actually, the gas density had reached about three percent, far exceeding the safety mark of one percent, three or four hours before the accident took place, said Li.

    If the colliery management had taken effective measures to withdraw miners and cut electricity underground immediately after finding the gas density problem, the blast could have been avoided.

    Li also criticized the colliery management for sending an exceedingly large number of miners underground in order to increase production. Enditem