Coal mine collapses in China, more than 50 missing. At least two people have died and more than 50 are missing after a mine collapsed in northern China. President Xi Jinping has ordered a search and rescue mission following the collapse at around 17:13 local time (09:13 GMT) on Wednesday.
More than 200 rescue workers have been dispatched to the scene and one person has been pulled out alive so far, according to state news agency Xinhua. The mine is located Alxa League, in China’s Inner Mongolia region.
State broadcaster CCTV said a collapse had occurred in a shaft operated by Xinjiang Coal Mining Company. Mines in Inner Mongolia are some of China’s top coal producers. Mining accidents are not uncommon in China, where industrial safety regulations can be poorly enforced. In December 2020, 23 miners died after a carbon monoxide leak at a coal mine.
And in January 2021, 10 miners were killed in a blast at a gold mine in Shandong province. “A number of working staff and vehicles have been buried,” CCTV reported.
Inner Mongolia is a key region for mining coal and other minerals in China, which critics say has ravaged the original landscape of mountains, grassy steppe, and deserts.
Mine safety in China has improved in recent decades but accidents still occur frequently in an industry where safety protocols are often lax, especially at the most rudimentary sites.
Some 40 people were working underground when a gold mine in the northwestern Xinjiang region collapsed in December. A little over half of them were rescued.
