The causes of a gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s Shanxi province are under investigation and officials with the company were detained following the nation’s deadliest such incident since 2009, state media said.
Authorities at a briefing late Saturday lowered the death toll to 82 from an earlier estimate of 90. They said two people remain missing and 128 are hospitalized after Friday’s blast, according to Xinhua. Rescue efforts continue.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged stronger risk inspections and hazard controls, and called for heightened vigilance during the current season, when heavy rain and floods are more common. Premier Li Qiang echoed the directives, seeking transparent information disclosure and tighter enforcement of safety responsibilities across key sectors, Xinhua News Agency reported.
China’s State Council investigation team will conduct “a rigorous and thorough investigation to fully ascertain the causes of the accident, clarify the responsibilities of local authorities, industry regulators and the company, and impose severe penalties in accordance with laws and regulations,” Xinhua reported.
The investigation team also called for a nationwide review of mining safety measures and a crackdown on illegal practices, including hidden work sites, falsified monitoring data, unclear worker counts, and improper subcontracting.
Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing was sent to Shanxi to oversee the emergency response efforts, including search and rescue, medical treatment and handling of the aftermath, Xinhua reported. He urged authorities to verify the number of missing workers and prevent secondary casualties.
China has dramatically reduced coal mining fatalities in recent years, but the vast industry continues to juggle competing priorities. The government has pushed output to a record to meet energy security demands, even as safety officials crack down on over-stressed facilities and blame mine owners and operators for accidents.
The mid-sized Liushenyu mine, owned by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal & Coke Group, has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of mostly coking coal — a modest sliver of the province’s overall output of 1.3 billion tons a year.
Even so, the explosion is classed as a very serious accident under Chinese regulations. Both the accident and the widespread security checks that will follow come at a challenging time for the domestic coal market, with supply already tight due to summer demand and upheaval in exports from Indonesia, a major supplier.
Even after years of dramatic renewable energy growth, coal remains a key pillar of China’s energy mix, underpinning power generation and industrial activity. It’s also one of few options to make up for current shortfalls in liquefied natural gas supply from the Persian Gulf.
Six teams totaling 345 people have been dispatched by the Ministry of Emergency Management to assist with the rescue, according to local reports, while victims are being treated for injuries including exposure to toxic gases. One miner interviewed by the Beijing News described being knocked out by the blast, only to awaken in darkness before crawling to safety through air thick with dust.
An executive at the company involved in the explosion has been detained, Xinhua reported, citing the rescue command headquarters.
The last coal mine accident that had a higher death toll was a 2009 explosion at the Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province, near the Russian border, that killed 108 people.
(Updates with revised death toll in second paragraph.)
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