A total of 497 officials have withdrawn their stakes in coal mines as part of a nationwide bid to crackdown on collusion between mine owners and officials, state media reported. Industry insiders say that mines owned or part-owned by officials often avoid inspection and fall below safety standards, a practice which has been blamed for the frequent coal mining accidents in China. The officials, 325 of whom are government officials and 172 company officials in state-owned enterprises, come from nine provinces including Guizhou, Hunan and Hebei.
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