At least 26 miners died when a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in...Henan on...7 December...The disaster came just one week after seven miners died in a flooded coal mine in...Hunan province...[M]ine owners and managers had been warned... of the potential safety hazards at the mine...Suzhuang coal mine was being restructured after its acquisition by the state-owned Yima Group and that coal production should have been halted during the restructuring process...Both disasters illustrate...the failure of local government oversight and regulation in China’s coal industry...