Chinese authority approved rescuers have been sent to a gold mine in the north-eastern province of Shandong where an explosion occurred trapping 22 miners underground.
The state media, Xinhua newspaper reported earlier today that the blast happened on Sunday afternoon in Xicheng, a township located in the Shandong province and although the Chinese authorities have sent rescuers, the miners remain trapped as the rescue team have so far been unable to contact the miners.
Xinhua cited a local government official in a statement released on Monday saying that the impact of the explosion destroyed the exits from the mine as well as the communications systems cutting off all contact between the trapped workers and the rescuers.
The newspaper says that the mine is owned by Shandong Wukailong Investment, which has named by Zhaojin Mining, China’s fourth-biggest gold miner, as a related party or “subsidiary of an associate” in its 2019 annual report.
Accidents such as these are common in China because the mining industry has a poor safety record and industry regulations are not properly enforced. According to People’s Daily, another state-run newspaper, Chinese coal mines saw 170 fatal accidents leading to 316 deaths in 2019.
In September last year, 16 workers died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a coal mine in southwestern China, after they were trapped by an underground fire. Emergency workers had pulled 17 people from the mine outside the city of Chongqing, but only one was rescued alive.
Also, in December, 23 miners died after being trapped in a mine in the same city.
Source: DW, Reuters
