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Beijing: An unfortunate incident at a coal mine in Shanxi province, China, has resulted in the death of at least 7 miners. Seven miners who were trapped since Monday in an underground warehouse of a coal mine in north China’s Shanxi Province were confirmed dead, according to local authorities on Friday. The coal pile in the warehouse collapsed at midnight on Monday when miners were repairing a coal feeder.
Despite improvements in mining safety and media coverage in China, accidents continue to occur frequently due to the industry’s weak safety record and lack of enforcement of regulations. Gao Naichun said that seven people were buried when the warehouse collapsed earlier this week. The last body was retrieved on Friday morning, marking the end of the rescue mission at the coal mine of the Taoyuan Xinlong coal industrial corporation in Zhongyang County, according to the county government.
Gao said the collapsed coal broke water pipes beneath the warehouse and caused an explosion of water, hampering rescue efforts. According to reports from state-controlled media, further investigation is underway.
Coal mine accidents in China which has a high energy demand around the year are common causing a large number of fatalities to the miners as they mostly operate in poor security conditions.
In January, at least ten people were killed after an accident in a coal mine in central China’s Henan Province, local authorities said. The accident, a likely coal and gas explosion described as an “outburst, happened in a coal mine of the Pingdingshan Tianan Coal Mining Co., Ltd.
Last October, at least 11 people were killed when an explosion unfolded in a coal mine in northern China, authorities said. The blast occurred on the outskirts of the historic city of Yan’an in the mountainous Shaanxi province, where mining has long been a key driver of the local economy.
China’s coal mines have seen several fatal accidents this year despite repeated government calls for stricter enforcement of safety standards. Rock bursting, which occurs when stored energy in a rock causes it to violently fragment, has been a common cause of these accidents. Miners are demanding increased coal production, further complicating the security situation in the country’s mining industry.
