Chinese coal miners walk to the tunnels in Datong, Shanxi Province, China, in 2018. A coal mine in the same area had an explosion Saturday that has killed at least 90 people. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo
More than 90 people have died in a gas explosion in a coal mine in northern China, the worst mining disaster in the country since 2009.
The explosion happened at 7:29 p.m. CST Friday at the Liushenyu Coal Mine in Shanxi province. China’s Ministry of Emergency Management sent 345 personnel from six rescue teams to help with the operation, the BBC reported.
It’s unclear if there are still workers unaccounted for.
There were nearly 250 people working underground when the explosion happened, and at least 201 people were evacuated as of Saturday morning, Chinese TV channel CCTV reported. The station later added that 123 people were treated at hospitals.
As of Saturday morning, there were 27 still at a local hospital with one in critical condition. The rest were being treated for minor injuries. Chinese state media reported that most were treated for inhaling poison gas, but it didn’t specify what kind of gas.
Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that a carbon monoxide sensor at the site alerted local authorities Friday, which meant that levels were beyond safety limits.
Chinese President Xi Jinping “stressed the need to make every effort to treat the injured, organize search and rescue operations scientifically and properly handle the aftermath,” the agency, Xinhua, reported. He also called for an investigation and emphasized the need to “hold those responsible to account, according to the law.”
Injured miner Wang Yong told state media that when it happened, he didn’t hear any noise, but saw smoke.
“I smelled sulphur, the same smell you get from blasting. I shouted at people to run. As we were running I could see people collapsing from the fumes. Then I blacked out too,” the BBC reported he said.
“I lay there for about an hour or so before I came round on my own. I woke up the person next to me and we got out together.”
On Saturday, emergency teams are still searching the mine for trapped workers. But the underground map of the mine they were given by the mining company doesn’t match the underground conditions, state-run Beijing News reported. This means rescuers have to search all the tunnels instead of a specific location, CNN reported.
Underground workers are required to carry a GPS tracker, Beijing News reported. But some of them didn’t have theirs when the blast happened, CNN said.
The mine is operated by the Shanxi Tongzhou Coal Group. It was listed in 2024 as one of 1,128 mines cited for “severe safety hazards” by China’s National Mine Safety Administration. The Liushenyu coal mine was cited for high gas levels, The New York Times reported.
The mine had two administrative penalties in 2025 for safety issues, the BBC reported.
Shanxi province produces more than a quarter of China’s total coal output.
Industrial disasters were once more common in China, but over the past 10 years Xi’s government has tightened safety regulations and enforcement, reducing the amount of mine and industrial accidents.
In 2013, an explosion at the Qingxing coal mine in Jilin province, where work had been ordered suspended for inspection, killed at least 18 workers.
In 2012, two carriages carrying miners down a pit in a coal mine slipped and crashed, killing 13 of them and trapping another seven.That mine was in Baiyin city in Gansu province in northwest China.
Friday’s accident is believed to be the deadliest since a 2009 explosion that killed 108 people at a state-run mine in Heilongjiang province.
A 2008 mining waste accident killed 277 people, and at least 12 officials were jailed for negligence.
