China outcry grows over beating death of reporter

Shanxi has assigned 70 police officers to investigate the beating and death, the Metropolitan Daily reported.

Chinese journalists who went to investigate Lan's death were blocked by police from entering the hospital where he died, igniting a clash between reporters and police, it said.

China's coal mines are the deadliest of any major producer, and Shanxi, with its abundance of mines, is a focus of official efforts to reduce fatalities.

A total of 4,746 Chinese coal miners were killed in about 3,000 blasts, floods and other accidents last year, down 20.1 percent from 2005, the State Work Safety Supervision Administration said last week.

In 2006, prosecutors in Shanxi investigated 135 people for dereliction of safety duties linked to mine accidents and 66 were convicted, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

An official in the Hunyuan local government said he had heard of the death but knew no details. He said the county had shut down all unlicensed mines.

Another city in Shanxi said last month that it had rounded up 80 people claiming to be "reporters" who extorted money from officials and owners of illegal mines by threatening exposure.

(Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng and Vivi Lin)