Mine collapsed in China, 49 people still missing
A coal mine collapsed in China. 49 people are still missing in the accident that killed 4 people. 900 rescuers at the scene.
The death toll from the collapse of an open-pit coal mine in northern China has risen to four, state broadcaster CCTV announced on Thursday. 49 people are still missing from the mining accident.
Work had been suspended for several hours after an additional landslide at the gigantic facility following Wednesday’s mine collapse in the vast Inner Mongolia region’s Alxa League.
State media said the landslide struck at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, about five hours after the initial cave-in of one of the pit’s walls buried people and mining trucks below.
900 RESCUES AT THE SITE
About 900 heavily-equipped rescuers at the scene resumed work on Thursday morning, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has demanded “all-out efforts in search and rescue” and for “ensuring the safety of people’s lives and property and maintaining overall social stability.”
Images of the collapse distributed by CCTV showed a massive wall of debris rushing down a slope onto people and vehicles below.
THERE ARE SECURITY VIOLATIONS
The company running the mine, Inner Mongolia Xinjing Coal Industry Co. Ltd., was cited and fined last year for multiple safety violations ranging from insecure access routes to the mining surface to unsafe storage of volatile materials and a lack of training for its safety overseers, according to the news website The Paper.
(AP)
