Deadly explosion cover-up busted open

Efforts are still being made to determine the exact number of people killed in a railway tunnel explosion in Shanxi Province last month, while four suspects, believed to have tried to cover up the deaths, have been caught.

The Shanxi provincial government held a press conference Friday afternoon to reveal the cover-up of a fatal tunnel explosion that occurred on December 25, the People's Daily reported.

Initial investigation results showed that eight people were killed and five were injured in the explosion on a section of railway tunnel being constructed by a subsidiary of the China Railway Tunnel Group in Puxian county.

A manger surnamed Song, 40, and three other executives of the group did not report the explosion to local authorities but transferred the eight bodies to distant funeral parlors for cremation, and sent the five injured people to hospitals in other counties.

Because the project was halted, and most of the workers at the site had returned home, the joint investigation group is seeking to find out exactly how many workers were on site.