At least 90 people have been confirmed dead following a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China, state media reported on Saturday, marking the country’s deadliest mining disaster in 17 years.
According to state news agency Xinhua, the explosion occurred at about 7:29 p.m. on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi province while 247 workers were underground.
Most of the miners were rescued by Saturday morning, but authorities confirmed that at least 90 workers lost their lives in the blast.
Emergency response teams deployed 345 personnel to the site, while rescue operations continued for several hours as teams searched for missing workers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out efforts” to treat the injured and called for a thorough investigation into the incident.
According to Xinhua, Xi also urged authorities across the country to strengthen workplace safety measures and prevent similar industrial disasters.
State media reported that a company official connected to the mine had been taken into custody as investigations began.
Initial reports indicated that dangerous levels of carbon monoxide were detected in the mine after the explosion, leaving several workers trapped underground, some reportedly in critical condition.
The disaster is China’s worst mining accident since 2009, when more than 100 people were killed in a coal mine explosion in Heilongjiang province.
Despite improvements in mine safety standards in recent years, industrial accidents continue to occur in China’s mining sector, where concerns over weak enforcement of safety regulations persist.
In 2023, another major mining accident in Inner Mongolia claimed 53 lives after an open-pit coal mine collapsed.
China remains the world’s largest consumer of coal and one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters globally, even as it expands renewable energy capacity.
