Governor of Shanxi Province Wang Jun wipes tear as he makes an apology to victims and their families over the gas blast at the Tunlan coal mine that left 74 people dead and 114 others injured, in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province on Feb. 24, 2009. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai) Photo Gallery>>>

    TAIYUAN, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Governor of Shanxi Province Wang Jun on Tuesday made an apology to victims and their families over the gas blast at the Tunlan coal mine that left 74 people dead and 114 others injured.

    "The blast caused huge loss of life and property ... We say sorry to the victims and their families," said the senior official.

    As he spoke at the investigation team meeting tears choked his eyes several times.

    The Shanxi provincial committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC) and the provincial government have made a formal admission of error to the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the State Administration of Work Safety, according to Wang.

Governor of Shanxi Province Wang Jun (R) wipes tear as he makes an apology to victims and their families over the gas blast at the Tunlan coal mine that left 74 people dead and 114 others injured, in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province on Feb. 24, 2009. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai) Photo Gallery>>>

    Shanxi will start a one-year campaign on work safety of state-owned and collectively-owned mines as of March 1, he added.

    Wang, who had been appointed the head and Party chief of the State Administration of Work Safety in March last year, was elected as the governor of Shanxi Province in January.

    Wang served as the acting and deputy governor of the coal-rich province in north China since mid-September last year when Meng Xuenong resigned from the post of governor in the wake of a deadly mud-rock flow that killed at least 277 people.

Tears well up as governor of Shanxi Province Wang Jun makes an apology to victims and their families over the gas blast at the Tunlan coal mine that left 74 people dead and 114 others injured, in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province on Feb. 24, 2009. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai) Photo Gallery>>>