The worst explosion at a coal mine in China in years has killed 90 people, state media – National said
A gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China’s Shanxi province has killed at least 90 people, state media said on Saturday. It was the country’s worst mining accident in years.
The official of Xinhua News Agency said that the accident that happened at the coal mine in Liushenyu city of Changzhi happened on Friday evening. About 247 workers were on duty at the time.
Nine miners were still missing as of Saturday afternoon, Xinhua said, and more than 120 people were hospitalized.
The cause of the explosion was being investigated, Xinhua reported, and the rescue operation was ongoing as hundreds of rescuers and medical personnel were sent to the area. Among the injured, many were injured by poisonous gas, according to the CCTV radio station.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has asked that everything possible be done to rescue the missing, reports Xinhua. Xi also called for “proper handling of the consequences of the accident and called for a thorough investigation into its cause, and accountability in accordance with the law.”
Xinhua later reported that those responsible for the company involved in the mine accident were “placed under control,” citing the local emergency management office.
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An investigative team sent by China’s powerful State Council, the country’s cabinet-equivalent, will be conducting a “strict and consistent” investigation into the deadly explosion, a separate Xinhua report said following Xi’s comments.
Wang Yong, one of the miners at the hospital, told CCTV in a video interview that he smelled sulfur “like fireworks” and saw smoke. “I told people to run,” he said. “When I was running I saw people choking on smoke, then I blacked out.”
The state broadcaster also reported that the plans provided by the coal mine did not match the actual situation, hampering rescue efforts.
The coal mine, operated by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal & Coke Group with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons, was placed on the national list of coal mines hit by disasters by the National Mine Safety Administration in 2024 for having “high gas.”
Shanxi province is known as the largest coal mining province in China. Larger than Greece and home to about 34 million people, the province’s hundreds of thousands of miners mined 1.3 billion tons of coal last year, about a third of China’s total.
In China, coal remains an important energy source due to its low cost and high availability, as the country accelerates the transition to green energy. Mining disasters have been common even though authorities have implemented measures to improve safety over the years.
In February 2023, 53 people died after falling into an open pit mine in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region. In November 2009, a mine explosion in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang province killed 108, according to state media.
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