15 miners were reported dead and 9 more were injured after a gas explosion in a Chinese coal mine.
The blast occurred on Monday, November 18, 2019. The facility is located in Pingyao county, Shanxi province, North China.
According to reports, 35 workers were in the mine at the time of the explosion. 11 of them managed to escape unharmed. Those who were injured suffered from burns and trauma and were hospitalized. They are all in stable condition.
The facility that had a capacity of 1.2 million tons of coal per year, is owned by the local government. An investigation to derive the causes of the collapse is currently underway.
Such blasts usually occur when coal gas is not ventilated adequately. When it (coal gas) reaches a high concentration, an explosion can be triggered even from an electrical device or a single spark. According to initial reports, mine operations were conducted in unsuited areas while the ventilation systems were deficient. “The accident demonstrates the leaders of the mine are reckless with greed, breached the red line and violated rules in deciding exploitation areas,” authorities stated.
Similar accidents are common in China mainly due to lack of safety regulations. In fact, mine disasters in China account for around 80% of the total accidents that occur worldwide. Certain reforms including better training of the miners and some safety measures have been implemented during the past years but there is still much room for improvement.
In October 2018, 21 mine workers died in a mine located in eastern Shandong province. High pressures caused the surrounding rock mass to burst and collapse trapping the miners inside the underground facility. Back in 2016, 2 explosion incidents in Chinese coal mines resulted in at least 59 fatalities.
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, there is an increase in coal’s demand during the past years as a significant proportion of electrical power is produced in thermal power plants (that mostly use coal as a fuel).
Sources: China.org, LAtimes, TheGuardian.ng, SouthChinaMorningPost
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