82 dead in China’s worst coal mine disaster in years — regulators flagged the risk 2 years ago

A gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s northern Shanxi province killed at least 82 people, local officials said Saturday, in what was the country’s deadliest mining accident in recent years. The official Xinhua News Agency said the accident at Changzhi city’s Liushenyu coal mine happened on Friday evening. At a news conference late Saturday, local authorities said 82 were dead and that more than 120 people were hospitalized. Two were still missing. The death toll was a revised, lower number from earlier reports by state broadcaster CCTV that said 90 had died. The scene at the coal mine was “chaotic” in the immediate aftermath of the accident, they said, and figures provided at the time were initial and not definite. The explosion was under investigation, local officials said, adding there were “serious violations” of the law by the mine’s operator. They did not elaborate on any specific violations. Earlier on Saturday, Xinhua reported that rescue work was pressing on a day after the accident, with hundreds of rescuers and medical personnel sent to the site. Among the injured, many were hurt by toxic gas, according to CCTV. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an all-out effort to rescue the missing, Xinhua reported. Xi also called for a “thorough investigation” and accountability “in accordance with the law.” Xinhua later reported that those responsible for the company involved in the mine accident have been “placed under control,” citing the local emergency management bureau. An investigation team sent by China’s powerful State Council, equivalent to the country’s Cabinet, would be conducting a “rigorous and uncompromising” probe into the deadly explosion, a separate Xinhua report said following Xi’s remarks. Wang Yong, one of the hospitalized miners, told CCTV in a video interview that he smelled sulfur “like firecrackers” and saw smoke. “I told people to run,” he said. “As I ran, I saw people being choked by the smoke. And then I black