82 Killed in Coal Mine Explosion in China
NEW DELHI, May 23: At least 82 people have been killed and two others are missing after a coal mine blast in northern China, officials said on Saturday.
The gas explosion at the Liushenyu Coal Mine in Shanxi province is the worst mining disaster in China since 2009.
There were 247 workers reportedly on duty when the blast happened at 19:29 local time (11:29 GMT) on Friday, with more than 100 people said to be saved and hundreds of rescuers sent to the site. Chinese President Xi Jinping said no effort must be spared in efforts to treat the injured and search for survivors.
The country’s state council later said a “rigorous” investigation would be conducted and those found responsible would be “severely punished.” Officials said 128 people were being treated in hospitals, including two in critical condition.
Most were affected after inhaling poisonous gas, according to state media, though it is not clear what type of gas it was. Wang Yong, an injured miner, told state media that when the incident happened, he did not hear a sound but saw a sudden plume of smoke. “I smelled sulphur, the same smell you get from blasting. I shouted at people to run. As we were running I could see people collapsing from the fumes. Then I blacked out too,” he said. “I lay there for about an hour or so before I came round on my own. I woke up the person next to me and we got out together.”
Some of the management team at the mine have reportedly been detained. The cause of the gas explosion has not yet been revealed, but state media reported that the levels of carbon monoxide – a highly toxic, odourless gas – in the mine were found to have “exceeded limits.”
China’s Ministry of Emergency Management has sent 345 personnel from six rescue teams to help with the operation. State media said the rescue operation had encountered difficulties as water has built up near the explosion site, preventing access to certain areas, while blueprints provided by the mine did not match the actual conditions.
In 2024, the Liushenyu mine was listed as one of the “severe safety hazards” by the Chinese National Mine Safety Administration. Tongzhou Group, which runs the mine, has reportedly received two administrative penalties in 2025 for safety issues.
The 2026 disaster is a reminder of the darkest days of China’s coal mining industry.
In the early 2000s, deadly accidents were common in coal mines across the country. Safety standards have been tightened in recent years, and there has also been a crackdown on illegal coal mines, especially in Shanxi.
But accidents still happen. In 2023, a collapse at an open-pit coal mine in the northern Inner Mongolia region killed 53 people. And in 2009, an explosion at a mine in Heilongjiang province in the north-east killed more than 100.
China is the world’s biggest consumer of coal and the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, even as it installs renewable energy capacity at record speed. The incident comes just days after high-profile visits by US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the country.
Shanxi province is known as China’s main coal mining province. With a size larger than Greece and a population of around 34 million, the province’s hundreds of thousands of miners dug 1.3 billion tons (1.17 billion metric tons) of coal last year, or almost a third of China’s total national output.
(Manas Dasgupta)
