A court in north-western China has jailed a coal mine boss for 16 years for trying to cover up the death toll in a mine flooding accident last year which killed 56 people.
Another 11 co-defendants were given sentences varying from 10 months to more than six years for complicity in under-reporting the casualties, the Beijing News reported.
The coal mine boss, Li Fuyuan, was found guilty of failing to implement safety measures after learning of flooding in his mine last May 18, the newspaper said.
Li reported a death toll of five to the authorities and bribed officials.
He was also convicted of illegal mining, bribery and falsifying testimony.
China has the world's deadliest coal mining industry with fatal accidents on an almost daily basis.
Labour rights groups say safety regulations are often ignored in many mines as production is pushed beyond limits in the rush for profit.
Nearly 6,000 coal miners died in about 3,300 accidents in 2005, and the death toll for the first 10 months of 2006 stood at 3,726, according to the latest available figures.
Officials say small and privately run coal mines that fall short of safety standards account for most of the casualties, but large state-owned mines report the higher death tolls.