Officials obfuscate, mine pays hush money following bus blast

After local police in Shuangyashan, Heilongjiang Province, announced that a bomber was responsible for an explosion on a bus Friday that killed 11 people, including himself, the Xinhua News Agency said the local government and a local coal mine have been trying to manipulate information related to the case.

A company bus owned by a local coal mine was carrying 35 passengers when the explosion occurred on Friday morning. The blast also rocked a smaller bus that was loaded with 17 people.

Seven passengers were killed instantly, while another four died in a local hospital, according to the local government, which refused to reveal the names of hospitals where injured passengers died.

Altogether 40 people were injured in the bomb attack.

Police said that the suspect Gao Wanfeng, 54, was among the 11 people who lost their lives in the tragedy.

Xinhua reported that the coal mine gave hush money to the injured victims and the families of those who died. The victims told the news agency the coal mine threatened not to pay their medical expenses if they consented to being interviewed or "spoke carelessly."

Local officials also tried to give hush money to journalists in the hope they would give up their investigation, according to Xinhua.

The publicity department of the Shuangyashan Party committee said the government would need to censor all reports before they could be released.