Sawt Falasteen - China authorities report 82 dead in coal mine blast, serious violations

The blast marked the country's biggest mining disaster in 17 years, with search efforts underway to find two people still missing late Saturday evening, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

A total of 247 workers were underground at the time of the blast, which occurred at 7:29 pm (1129 GMT) on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Of those, 128 people were sent to hospital for treatment, CCTV said.

Chinese authorities said late Saturday that preliminary findings showed the coal mine's company had committed "serious illegal violations", state media reported.

"Preliminary judgment indicates that the coal mine enterprise involved committed serious illegal violations," authorities said in a press conference broadcast on CCTV.

A total of 755 emergency and medical personnel were dispatched to the site, with rescue efforts still ongoing Saturday afternoon, CCTV said.

Friday's explosion was the deadliest mining disaster in China since 2009, when 108 people were killed in a mine blast in northeast Heilongjiang province.

- Sulphur smell -

One survivor and injured miner Wang Yong told CCTV he heard no sound but smelled sulphur when the explosion happened.

"I didn't hear any sound at all, but then a cloud of smoke appeared," Wang said.

"When I smelled it, it was the smell of sulfur like when people set off firecrackers. When the smoke came down, I shouted for people to run," he said.

He recalled seeing people choked by the smoke before he fainted.

"After more than an hour, I came to on my own, and then I woke up the person next to me" and got out, he told CCTV.

Helmeted rescuers were carrying stretchers at the site, with ambulances visible in the background, video by CCTV showed.

Hospitalised people lay in beds with bandages around their heads, the images showed. Others were on oxygen support.

Doctors provided oxygen, dehydration to reduce intracranial pressure and psychological treatment to patients, a nurse told CCTV.

President Xi Jinping urged "all-out efforts" to treat the injured and called for thorough investigations into the incident, according to Xinhua.

China's government launched an "uncompromising" investigation into the explosion, vowing to severely punish those responsible, and ordered a nationwide crackdown on illegal mining activities, Xinhua said earlier Saturday evening.

"The State Council's accident investigation team will conduct a rigorous and uncompromising investigation," Xinhua said.

"Those found responsible will be severely punished in accordance with laws and regulations".

"All regions and relevant authorities are required to... launch tough crackdowns on illegal and unlawful activities", including the falsification of safety data, unclear headcounts of underground workers and illegal contracting, it added.

A person "responsible for" the company involved in the explosion has been "placed under control in accordance with the law", Xinhua said.

- Lax safety protocols -

Shanxi, one of China's poorer provinces, is the centre of the country's coal-mining.

Mine safety in China has improved in recent decades, but accidents still occur in an industry where safety protocols are often lax and regulations vague.

In 2023, a collapse at an open-pit coal mine in the northern Inner Mongolia region killed 53 people.

China is the world's top consumer of coal and the largest greenhouse gas emitter, despite installing renewable energy capacity at record speed.

L.AbuAli--SF-PST