Chinese mines: At least 18 dead in underground gas leak

Eighteen miners have been confirmed dead after a carbon monoxide leak at a coal mine in southwestern China on December 4, state media reported. Rescue efforts underway to reach five others still trapped underground.

Twenty-four miners were caught up in the accident at the Diaoshuidong mine in the city of Chongqing, around 1,800km south-west of Beijing, after the gas leak occurred on December 5.

As of Saturday morning, one survivor and 18 victims had been found, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The accident occurred while workers were dismantling underground mining equipment. The mine has been closed for the previous two months. The cause of the accident is under further investigation, the report said.

Earlier, an accident at the mine claimed the lives of three people in 2013. In 2018, seven miners died after a skip plummeted down a mine shaft in Chongqing.

The Diaoshuidong coal mine, which was established in 1975 and became privately-owned in 1998, has an annual production capacity of 120,000 tonnes of coal, according to the local emergency management department.

Mining accidents are common in China, where the industry has a poor safety record and regulations are often weakly enforced.

Sixteen workers were killed at another mine on the outskirts of Chongqing in September after a conveyor belt caught fire and the resulting blaze produced dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.