The death toll from a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China’s Shanxi province has jumped to at least 82, state media reported on Saturday (May 23), with nine still missing.
The gas explosion occurred late on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine in Qinyuan county, with 247 workers on duty underground, Xinhua reported earlier in the day.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for authorities to “spare no effort” in treating the injured and conducting search and rescue operations, while ordering a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident and strict accountability in accordance with the law.
Premier Li Qiang echoed the instructions, calling for timely and accurate release of information and rigorous accountability.
Rescue operations were ongoing and the cause of the accident was under investigation, according to the local emergency management authority in Qinyuan.
Executives of the company responsible for the mine have been detained, Xinhua reported.
The death toll was a sharp rise from the eight fatalities reported on Saturday morning. Xinhua said in an earlier report that dozens were trapped underground as levels of carbon monoxide had “exceeded limits” at the mine. Some of those trapped underground were in “critical condition”, the report said.
China has significantly reduced coal mine fatalities - often caused by gas explosions or flooding - since the early 2000s through more stringent regulations and safer practices. The Liushenyu incident, though, was one of the deadliest reported in China in the past decade.
Shanxi, one of China’s poorer provinces, is the country’s coal-mining capital.
China is the world’s top consumer of coal and the largest greenhouse gas emitter, despite installing renewable energy capacity at record speed.
According to official data from the National Mine Safety Administration (NMSA), over 3,000 mine accidents occurred in China between 2010 and 2025.
Just last month, four people were found dead after a roof collapsed at a coal mine in Xingxian county, Shanxi.
-- Agencies
