China's Inner Mongolia sets up investigation team for mining plant incident

HOHHOT, July 25 (Xinhua) -- North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has established an investigation team to determine the cause of the incident in which six university students drowned on Wednesday after falling into a flotation cell during a study visit at a local copper-molybdenum ore-dressing plant.

The regional government has conducted a higher-level investigation into the incident to determine its cause and nature and implement corrective measures sooner. The investigation team has now arrived at the accident site and commenced its work.

The accident occurred at approximately 10:20 a.m. Wednesday at the plant, which is operated by a mining company under China National Gold Group Co., Ltd. in Hulunbuir, according to the municipal emergency management bureau. The students, all of whom attended Northeastern University, were observing flotation processes when a grid plate collapsed, causing them to plunge into the flotation cell.

All six were rescued from the cell but later pronounced dead by medical personnel. A teacher was also injured in the incident.