China mine death toll rises to 90 after gas explosion | China

At least 90 people have been killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China’s Shanxi province, in the country’s worst mining disaster in 17 years.

The explosion occurred at 7:29 p.m. (12:29 p.m. BST) on Friday when 247 workers were underground at the Liushenyu coal mine in Qinyuan county, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The cause of the accident has not yet been confirmed, but according to Xinhua, local authorities were initially alerted after an underground carbon monoxide sensor in the mine – operated by the Tongzhou Group – was triggered. Carbon monoxide is a highly toxic and odorless gas.

One injured survivor, Wang Yong, recalled seeing a “puff of smoke”, smelling sulfur and seeing people choking before losing consciousness. “I lay down for about an hour and woke up by myself. I called the people next to me and we walked out of the mine together,” Wang told state broadcaster CCTV.

Xinhua initially reported that there were eight deaths, while some workers were trapped underground in “critical condition.” The death toll began to rise rapidly on Saturday morning.

At least 123 people, including four in critical or serious condition, were taken to hospital for treatment, according to CCTV. Thirty-three of them had returned home by 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Footage released by CCTV showed helmeted rescuers carrying stretchers to the site, with ambulances visible in the background. Rescue efforts continue, with a total of 755 rescuers and medical personnel dispatched to the scene.

This mining disaster is the deadliest reported in China since 2009, when an explosion in a mine in Heilongjiang province, in the northeast of the country, killed more than 100 people.

China has significantly reduced the number of coal mining deaths – often caused by gas explosions or flooding – since the early 2000s by imposing stricter regulations and safer practices. But major accidents still occur, including in 2023, when a collapse of an open-cast coal mine in northern Inner Mongolia killed 53 people.

In 2020, 23 people were killed after being trapped in a mine with high levels of carbon monoxide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing.

Shanxi, one of China’s poorest provinces, is the center of the country’s mining industry, contributing nearly a third of its raw coal production.

President Xi Jinping called on authorities to “spare no effort” in treating the injured and carrying out search and rescue operations, while ordering an investigation into the cause of the accident and those responsible.

Xi also “stressed that all regions and departments must learn lessons from this accident, remain constantly vigilant in workplace safety… and resolutely prevent and curb the occurrence of major and catastrophic accidents.”

Premier Li Qiang echoed the instructions, calling for timely and accurate release of information and rigorous accountability.

According to Xinhua, authorities have already placed at least one person “responsible” for the company involved in the explosion “under control in accordance with the law.” The final cause of the accident is under investigation, according to the Qinyuan local emergency management authority.

In 2024, the Liushenyu mine was one of 1,128 mines cited by China’s National Mining Safety Administration for “serious safety risks”, with the regulator specifically sounding the alarm over the presence of high levels of the gas.

When releasing its findings, it called on provincial authorities to “urge seriously disaster-prone coal mines to implement regional disaster management measures.”

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report