BEIJING (AP) 鈥� A gas explosion at a coal mine in China鈥檚 northern Shanxi province killed at least 90 people, state media said on Saturday, in the country鈥檚 deadliest mining accident in recent years.
Official news agency Xinhua said the accident at Changzhi city鈥檚 Liushenyu coal mine happened on Friday evening. Around 247 workers were on duty at the time.
Nine miners were still unaccounted for as of Saturday afternoon, Xinhua said, and more than 120 people were hospitalized.
The cause of the explosion was under investigation, Xinhua reported, and rescue work is pressing on with hundreds of rescuers and medical personnel sent to the site. Among the injured, many were hurt by toxic gas, according to state media CCTV.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an all-out effort to rescue the missing, reported Xinhua.
Xi also called for the 鈥減roper handling of the aftermath of the accident and urged a thorough investigation into its cause, with accountability pursued in accordance with the law,鈥� the news agency said.
Xinhua later reported that the 鈥減ersons responsible for the company involved in the mine accident have been placed under control,鈥� citing the local emergency management bureau.
The coal mine, operated by the Shanxi Tongzhou Coal & Coke Group with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons, was placed on a national list of disaster-prone coal mines by China鈥檚 National Mine Safety Administration in 2024 for having 鈥渉igh gas content.鈥�
Shanxi province is known as China鈥檚 main . With a size larger than Greece and a population of around 34 million, the province’s hundreds of thousands of miners dug 1.3 billion tons of coal last year, or almost a third of China鈥檚 total.
In February 2023, 53 people were killed after a at an open-pit mine in northern China鈥檚 Inner Mongolia region. In November 2009, an explosion at a mine in northeastern China鈥檚 Heilongjiang province killed 108, according to state media.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
