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A deadly coal mine explosion in northern China has killed at least 90 workers, sending rescue teams deep into toxic underground tunnels and raising new questions about safety conditions inside one of the country’s most important mining regions.
Chinese state media said the blast happened Friday evening at the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi province, where hundreds of miners were reportedly on duty when the explosion ripped through the site. Rescue operations continued through Saturday as emergency crews searched damaged tunnels for workers believed to still be trapped underground.
The scale of the disaster has shocked a province that sits at the center of China’s coal industry. Shanxi produced roughly a third of the country’s coal last year, supplying power stations, factories and heavy manufacturing networks that still rely heavily on coal despite years of efforts to reduce dependence on older fuels.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an investigation and called for an all-out rescue effort as attention quickly turned toward local officials and mine operators over how such a large explosion could happen inside one of China’s most strategically important industries.
Many of the injured miners were reportedly exposed to toxic gas after the blast, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. Rescue crews were still trying to reach parts of the mine late Saturday while families waited for updates above ground.
Mining accidents remain politically sensitive in China because they expose the dangers facing workers inside industries that continue carrying huge parts of the country’s industrial economy. Safety standards have improved over the past two decades, but deadly explosions still surface periodically across coal-producing regions where mines remain under heavy pressure to keep output high.
The deaths are now likely to intensify scrutiny over conditions inside major mining regions as officials try to keep factories running without risking power shortages or deeper economic weakness.
For many communities across northern China, coal production remains tied closely to jobs, local business activity and regional growth, even as the industry continues exposing workers to dangerous underground conditions that most consumers never see.
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation. But the scale of the loss has already become another stark reminder of how much of the global economy still depends on physically demanding industries operating far from public view.