China needs at least ten years to "fundamentally improve" safety in its notoriously dangerous coal mines, a top safety official was quoted as saying on Saturday.
"Coal mine safety is still a big problem," Zhao Tiechui, head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
"Awareness of safety and rule of law is still low in some coal-rich areas and some coal enterprises."
A total of 2,631 miners — about seven a day — were killed last year, down by 584 from 2008, Xinhua news agency said last month, citing the same official safety body.
The number of mining accidents also fell by 338 to 1,616, it said.
Fatalities at China's coal mines peaked in 2002 when 6,995 deaths were recorded, sparking efforts by the government to boost safety standards.
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