Three senior officials of coal-rich Shanxi province have been dismissed for taking hefty bribes from coalmine owner Li Kewei, the Shanxi provincial discipline authority said on Thursday.

One of the officials was Shen Gongyuan, former public security bureau director of Datong city, who accepted 29 million yuan ($4.4 million) in bribes from Li from 2006 to 2007. In return, they turned a blind eye to unreported coalmine accidents, and allowed Li to reopen his mine and continue mining despite unsafe conditions.

From 2002 to 2004, five mine accidents causing 13 deaths happened at local mines owned by Li, a businessman from Zhejiang province, the investigation found.