The number of workplace accidents in China dropped 21.9 percent and death toll dropped 13.8 percent year-on-year in the first eight months, according to official statistics.

The figures were revealed in Beijing at a national video and telephone conference on production safety on Thursday. Hua Jianmin, State Councilor and secretary general of the State Council, attended the conference and made work arrangements for the current and coming periods.

He asked relevant departments to weed out safety loopholes with regular checkups and strive to prevent major accidents to guarantee a peaceful National Day holiday, which runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7.

A total of 61,919 people were killed in various work accidents nationwide during the January to August period.

More than 180 miners are still trapped underground two and a half weeks after flood water inundated the Huayuan and Minggong mines in Xintai, east China's Shandong Province.

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2007)