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28 March 2024

More than 152 trapped in flooded China coal mine

Workers at a coal mine in China's Shanxi province. China's coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world. (AFP)

Published
By AFP

Beijing At least 152 workers were trapped when a vast coal mine being built in northern China flooded yesterday, in the latest accident to hit the country's notoriously dangerous mining industry.

A total of 261 people were working in the Wangjialing mine in Shanxi province when underground water gushed in, and just more than 100 managed to escape, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China's coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety standards often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal – the source of about 70 per cent of China's energy.

According to official statistics, 2,631 miners – about seven a day – were killed in China last year.