Chinese authorities continued searching and investigating after a gas explosion at the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi province killed at least 82 people on Friday. Officials say 247 miners were underground when the blast occurred; 128 were taken to hospital and two remain missing. Rescue teams have deployed a robot to assess conditions deep in the shaft as they hunt for the missing workers.
Local authorities have accused the mine operator of serious breaches of safety regulations. While officials did not detail every violation, local media and witness accounts pointed to multiple safety lapses: some miners reported having bought protective helmets with their own money, and reports suggested many workers entered the shaft without being properly registered via face recognition or issued required tracking devices.
Officials said chaotic on-site conditions and inaccurate information from the operator led to an initial, inflated death toll of 90 that was later revised downward. State broadcaster CCTV reported that the mine’s provided blueprints did not match the actual underground layout, complicating rescue efforts. State media Xinhua said one person responsible has been placed under control, and Beijing has ordered a nationwide crackdown on illegal practices such as falsifying safety data, inaccurate miner tracking, and unlawful commissioning procedures.
President Xi Jinping called for a thorough investigation, and a commentary in the official People’s Daily urged all regions to learn from the accident and ‘‘always keep safety in mind.’’ Shanxi, a major center of China’s coal production and one of its poorer provinces, remains vital to the country’s energy mix. Although mining safety has improved over recent decades, fatal accidents still occur — notably a 2009 mine explosion in Heilongjiang that killed 108 people.