At least 90 dead in accident in a coal mine in China

BarcelonaAt least 90 people died this Friday in a gas explosion that occurred this Friday at the Liushenyu mine, in Shanxi province, in central China. The accident occurred at 7:29 p.m. local time this Friday (12:29 p.m. in Catalonia) at this mining operation, where 247 people were working at the time of the incident and where rescue efforts continue, according to the official Chinese agency Xinhua.

The death toll has been increasing with the hours: in a first report released this Saturday morning, authorities had reported 8 deaths, 201 people evacuated alive and 38 trapped underground, before raising the number of fatalities first to "more than 50" and then to 82, until the figure rose to 90.

Authorities have not detailed, for now, the specific circumstances in which the explosion occurred or the state of the people who remain unaccounted for, although they have indicated that rescue efforts are ongoing. In parallel, Xinhua reported that a person responsible for the company owning the mine had been "under the control of the authorities," in a move that points to the start of an investigation into possible responsibilities for the incident.

5746110

After the accident became public, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for intensifying search efforts, attending to the injured, investigating the causes of the incident, and demanding accountability. Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing has traveled to the site to oversee rescue operations and post-accident management.

Coal mines, the material with which China generates around 60% of its energy, continue to record high accident rates, even though the number of fatal accidents has significantly decreased in recent years. The Chinese mining sector registered more than 3,000 deaths between 2018 and 2023, a figure that, however, represented a decrease of 53.6% compared to the previous five-year period, according to official data.