New Zealander who helped Chinese miners dies

A New Zealand mine safety expert who was honored in China for helping cut the number of mine accidents there has died after a long battle against cancer, local media reported on Thursday.

Dave Feickert, who received the Chinese government's Friendship Award in 2009 for his work to improve mine safety and miners' health, died in his home town of Whanganui, the Fairfax news organization reported.

A biography on Feickert's personal website, davefeickert.co.nz, said he and other foreign advisers had helped cut the accident rate in Chinese mines by 70 percent over a period of five years.

Feickert had worked in mine safety in the United Kingdom and New Zealand and had authored newspaper commentaries critical of government mining and safety policies in both countries.

He was also the Whanganui branch president of the New Zealand China Friendship Society and an advocate of traditional Chinese medicine, which he had taken to treat his liver cancer after doctors in New Zealand told him his condition was terminal.

He was survived by a wife, daughter and two grandchildren, the Fairfax report said.

His funeral would be on Tuesday in Whanganui.

Calls by Xinhua to Feickert's home on Thursday went unanswered.