Senior work safety officials suspected corruption to be behind the breaking of an ironore wastedump wall that caused a massive mudslide in Shanxi province, and said the deliberate concealment of the true death toll could have led to a delay in proper rescue operations.

The tragedy in Xiangfen county's Yunhe village has claimed 260 lives.

Huang Yi, spokesman for State Administration of Work Safety, yesterday said a team formed by the State Council is investigating whether local officials intentionally hid the true death toll because the toll they gave differed from the number of bodies found at the site.