At least 82 coal miners dead
Management imprisoned after gas explosion at disaster-prone coal mine
Police have detained management of the Shanxi Tongzhou Coal & Coke Group following a gas explosion at their 1.2mtpa Liushenyu coking coal mine in China that has killed at least 82 people.
Following initial reporting confusion during a chaotic rescue scene, local authorities confirmed the tally, which was revised down from a preliminary report of 90. Of the 247 people underground at the time of the explosion, a further 120 people were hospitalised, many suffering from toxic gas inhalation, and two miners remain missing.
With the company management team imprisoned, there has been no communication from the company itself about what led to the gas blast; however, state media reported that the blueprints provided by the mine management did not match the actual underground layout, severely hampering initial rescue efforts. Local officials claim that the mine’s operator committed other “serious violations” of the law.
The mine is officially classified as a “high gas content” and disaster-prone mine.
In 2024, China’s National Mine Safety Administration explicitly placed the Liushenyu facility on a national watchlist of mines highly vulnerable to gas hazards due to volatile underground atmospheric conditions.