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Beijing (AFP) – The balance of the collapse of a mine in northern China rose to four deaths on February 23, while the search for dozens of missing persons was resumed, which had been interrupted by a new landslide, reported the state press.
More than 50 people were trapped when a 180-meter-high hillside collapsed onto the open pit mine in the Alxa region of northern Inner Mongolia province at around 1:00 p.m. (0500 GMT) Wednesday, according to the CCTV state television.
Four people have died so far, six have been injured and 49 are missing, CCTV said.
More than 900 rescuers present at the site interrupted the search on Wednesday night due to a new landslide, but resumed work on Thursday at dawn, CCTV reported.
Television footage showed rescuers in orange suits and yellow helmets working with bulldozers to remove rubble.
“I had just started working when I saw the landslide coming down the hill. The situation got worse and worse,” a rescued worker named Ma Jianping told CCTV.
“We tried to organize an evacuation but it was too late, the landslide was coming,” he said from a hospital bed in the neighboring region of Ningxia.
The injured were in stable condition, according to a doctor quoted by CCTV.
The incident affected a “wide area” of the mine, which is operated by the Xinjing Coal Mining Company, CCTV reported.
“Several workers and vehicles were buried,” he said.
There was no word on what caused the collapse, and AFP calls to the coal company were not returned until Thursday.
A video posted to social media by a coal truck driver appeared to show rocks falling down a slope, kicking up clouds of dust that engulfed several vehicles.
“The whole slope collapsed (…) How many people will have died from that?” a male voice is heard in the background of the video.
“If I had stopped there today, I would have died too,” adds the voice.
Dangerous work
Chinese President Xi Jinping instructed authorities “to do everything possible to search for and rescue the missing,” CCTV reported.
Located in the arid north of China, Alxa League is a sparsely populated region whose economy depends on mining and other extractive activities.
Mine safety in China has improved in recent decades, as has media coverage of major incidents, which were previously ignored.
However, there are frequent accidents in an industry whose security protocols are sometimes lax, especially in remote locations.
Some 40 people were working underground when a gold mine in the northwestern region of Xinjiang collapsed in December.
In 2021, 20 miners were rescued from a flooded coal mine in the northern province of Shanxi, while two others died.
