‘Smell of Sulphur; told people to run’: Survivor recalls chaos as China mine death toll mounts

Beijing: A gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s northern Shanxi province has killed at least 90 people, state media said, marking one of the country’s deadliest mining incidents in recent years.

The accident occurred at the Liushenyu coal mine in Changzhi city on Friday evening, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Around 247 workers were on duty at the time.

Nine miners remained unaccounted for as of Saturday afternoon, while more than 120 people have been hospitalised, Xinhua said.

Rescue operation underway as cause under probe

Hundreds of rescuers and medical personnel have been deployed to the site as rescue efforts continue, state media reported. The cause of the explosion is under investigation.

Among the injured, many suffered exposure to toxic gas, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an all-out effort to locate the missing. Xinhua reported that he also urged “proper handling of the aftermath of the accident and a thorough investigation into its cause, with accountability pursued in accordance with the law.”

Xinhua later said individuals responsible for the company involved in the accident have been “placed under control,” citing the local emergency management bureau.

An investigation team from China’s State Council will carry out a “rigorous and uncompromising” probe into the explosion, according to another Xinhua report.

Survivor account and safety concerns raised

Wang Yong, one of the hospitalised miners, told CCTV in a video interview that he noticed a sulphur smell “like firecrackers” and saw smoke. “I told people to run,” he said. “As I ran, I saw people being choked by the smoke. And then I blacked out.”

CCTV also reported that the coal mine’s blueprints did not match the actual layout, which hampered rescue efforts.

The mine is operated by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal & Coke Group and has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes. It was placed on a national list of disaster-prone coal mines in 2024 by China’s National Mine Safety Administration for having “high gas content.”

Shanxi province, China’s main coal mining region, produces vast quantities of coal annually. Mining disasters have been recorded despite safety improvements in recent years.

Earlier incidents include 53 deaths in February 2023 after a mine collapse in Inner Mongolia, and 108 deaths in a 2009 explosion in Heilongjiang province, according to state media.