China closed 1,088 small coal mines last year because they were unsafe, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the head of the Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

The number of deaths from coal mine accidents dropped 18 percent to 2,631 in 2009, the news agency said. Small mines accounted for 35 percent of China's coal output and were responsible for 70 percent of the fatalities, the safety administration's Zhao Tiechui was quoted as saying.

China phased out 50 million metric tons of "outdated" annual coal production capacity last year, Xinhua said.