China’s State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) said that it would "actively promote" the use of technologies that improve miners’ safety, state media reported. An administration official said that the introduction of real-time mining supervision systems to track and locate miners would enable rescuers to pinpoint the exact location of miners in an accident. China’s mines have come under increasing scrutiny over safety issues, though the number of coal mine deaths in 2007 dropped 20%, to 3,786, from the previous year. On Monday, the government said that a gas explosion at an illegal mine in Shanxi province killed at least 20 people.