GUANGZHOU authorities have launched an all-out effort to close illegal quarries in a bid to rescue migrant workers and care for the environment.
More than 100 'concentration camp' quarries were closed down in two clampdowns by the municipal Government, according to a report in Hong Kong's Ta Kung Pao newspaper yesterday.
'Most of them operated without careful planning or environmental protection measures. Owners often abandoned their sites after making a high profit,' a Guangzhou official was quoted as saying.
'They destroyed mountains, cut trees and undermined the landscape of the cities.
'They thought they would not be punished. That's why accidents and torture were so common in their mines,' the paper said.
It blamed local departments for insufficient supervision.
Many illegal quarries were said to be virtual concentration camps, with hellish conditions. In some quarries, 50 or 60 workers had to sleep together in rooms of about 161 square feet.