Asia: Mine collapses in China: Six dead, nearly 50 missing

Rescue operations involving hundreds of rescuers continued two days after the tragedy in Inner Mongolia, a region in the north of the country.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, the workers were buried Wednesday when a 180-meter-high mountain collapsed in an open-pit coal mine. Rescue operations were halted after the landslide on Wednesday evening, but have resumed according to CCTV, which now indicates that six people are dead, six injured and 47 missing.

China’s Ministry of Emergency Management called for “every effort to search for missing persons without delay and not to lose hope of finding them,” China News Agency said on Friday. “Saving lives remains the top priority,” and “efforts must be made to prevent secondary disasters,” according to a ministry task force cited by the agency.

The channel aired images of rescue workers in orange jumpsuits amid a mountain of rusting rubble, and images of diggers clearing away some debris.

“We had just started work,” he said, “when we saw rocks starting to fall from the top of the mountain. It got stronger and stronger,” survivor worker Ma Jianping told CCTV. “It was decided to evacuate the compound. But it was already too late. The entire hill collapsed,” he said as he lay on his hospital bed.

Police investigation

The reasons for the tragedy are still unknown. Jinjing Coal Mining Company, the mine site’s operator, did not respond to phone calls from AFP, according to CCTV. According to the CCTV footage, a police investigation has been launched. New China said on Friday that the Ministry of Emergency Management had called for a “full investigation”.

A video posted on social media — believed to have been posted by a coal truck driver — shows rocks tumbling down the slope, kicking up clouds of brown dust. “The whole slope collapsed (…) How many people died?” A male voice begins in the background. “If I had stood in line there today, I would have died there too.”

The site of the tragedy, the left banner of Alxa – the name of an administrative region in the region – is a sparsely populated region of Inner Mongolia whose economy is largely based on mining.

Mine safety has improved in recent decades in the country, and media coverage of these incidents was once largely overlooked. However, accidents occur regularly due to the inherent danger in this industry and the sometimes inconsistent application of safety instructions.

At the end of December, 40 people were working underground when a gold mine collapsed in the Xinjiang region (northwest), and 22 managed to get out. In December 2021, two miners died after being trapped in a flooded coal mine in Shaanxi (North) and 20 others were rescued after rescue operations. In September 2021, 19 miners trapped underground in a coal mine collapse in Qinghai Province (Northwest) were found dead after a long search.

(AFP)