BEIJING — China improved supervision of coal mine safety in the first seven months of the year.

From January to July, local authorities imposed 3,967 administrative penalties, up 91.7 percent year on year, according to the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety website.

Fines totalled 333 million yuan (about $50 million), up 93.9 percent year on year.

More mines were inspected and more safety issues detected.

Many provincial-level regions evaluated work safety practices and the effectiveness of their precautions against major disasters.

In the first half, the number of coal mine accidents and the death toll from those accidents dropped from a year earlier.