BEIJING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- The death rate in China's coal mine accidents last year dropped 20.4 percent from 2007 to 1.182 percent, the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) said Tuesday.

    Zhao Tiechui, senior SAWF official in charge of coal mine supervision, attributed the improvements to government efforts to shut illegal mines and toughen enforcement.

    The number of accidents fell 19.3 percent to 413,700 in 2008. The death toll in coal mines last year was down 15.1 percent from 2007.

    China closed 1,054 illegal coal mines in 2008, but government figures show almost 80 percent of the country's 16,000 mines are illegal.

    Zhao urged work safety supervisors nationwide to work harder on accident prevention this year.