Officials in China have revised the death toll from a devastating coal mine gas explosion to 82, down from an initial count of 90, citing confusion in the aftermath of the disaster. The announcement was made at a press conference late on Saturday by local authorities in Shanxi province.
Revised Death Toll
The explosion occurred late on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine in Qinyuan county, Shanxi province. State media initially reported that at least 90 people had been killed. However, local officials later clarified that the earlier figure was incorrect due to chaotic conditions at the scene.
"After the incident, the scene was chaotic, the company's count of the number of workers was not clear, which led to the initial inaccurate number," said Guo Xiaofang, the head of Qinyuan county. At the time of the explosion, 247 workers were on duty underground.
Casualties and Missing
According to Mr Guo, two people remain unaccounted for, while 128 were injured and hospitalised. Thirty-five workers escaped uninjured. The revised death toll of 82 still makes this China's deadliest mining accident since 2009, when a gas explosion at the Xinxing Mine in Heilongjiang province killed 108 people.
Mine Operations and Response
The Liushenyu mine is owned by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal Coking Group. All four of the company's mines have been closed, and company executives have been detained, local officials confirmed. The mine has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of coal. China mined 4.83 billion tons of coal last year, a fuel that remains central to the country's power sector.
President Xi Jinping called on authorities to "spare no effort" in treating the injured and conducting search and rescue operations, according to state news agency Xinhua. He also ordered an investigation into the incident. The state-run People's Daily published an editorial on Sunday calling for greater attention to safety in production and urging a reversal of the tendency to prioritise development over safety.
