BEIJING, Jul 10 (AP) -- Workplace accidents killed 7,321 people in China last month, a 10.4 percent drop from the previous year, state media said Tuesday, but still far higher than in the United States.

Informants helped investigators bring to light four accidents that had been covered up that in total left 22 people dead or missing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

One of the cover-ups involved a water leak that killed six people in Chenjialing village, in northern China's Shanxi province.

The 7,321 workplace deaths was a drop of 10.4 percent from the same month a year ago, according to the State Administration of Work Safety, the Xinhua report said.

The number was more than triple that of workplace deaths in the United States, using the most recent government figures and adjusting for the differences in population.

In 2005, about 475 people were killed each month in workplace accidents in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.