Comment on "Officials fired as rescue ongoing" (China Daily, Aug 26)

I was saddened to read about poor miners trapped in a coal mine in Boli county of Heilongjiang province with little chance of being rescued. It was more saddening to know that officials responsible for the rescue operation were not interested in saving the miners.

A couple of local officials have been fired because of dereliction of duty, but that is far from enough. They should have been punished for their criminal actions.

Giorgio Ronzani, via e-mail

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(China Daily 08/30/2011 page9)