Here are some of China's major coal mining disasters this century

A gas explosion at a coal mine in Shanxi, China, has killed at least 90 people, according to state media

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Here are some of China's major coal mining disasters this century

A gas explosion at a coal mine in Shanxi, China, has killed at least 90 people, according to state media

ByThe Associated PressMay 23, 2026, 7:23 AM

1:12In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers pass by an ambulance in the aftermath of an explosion at Changzhi city's Liushenyu coal mine in Qinyuan county, northern China's Shanxi Province on Saturday, May 23, 2026. (Cao Yang/Xinhua via AP)The Associated Press

A gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s northern province of Shanxi killed at least 90 people, state media reported Saturday.

China's official Xinhua News Agency said the accident at Changzhi city’s Liushenyu coal mine happened on Friday evening. Around 247 workers were on duty at the time.

Shanxi province is known as China’s main coal mining province. With a size larger than Greece and a population of around 34 million, the province’s hundreds of thousands of miners dug 1.3 billion tons (1.17 billion metric tons) of coal last year, nearly a third of China’s total.

Mining disasters are common in China, where rapid industrialization came with intense resource exploitation, poor working conditions and a weak regulatory framework.

Mine owners and local officials are frequently blamed for putting profits ahead of safety. Underground explosions often are blamed on lack of ventilation equipment to clear gas that seeps from the coal bed. In the past two decades, the Chinese government has been making efforts to reduce mining deaths, by improving safety and closing some smaller mines.

2023: 53 people were killed after a collapse at an open-pit mine in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region.

2009: 108 miners died as a result of a gas explosion at the state-run Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province near the border with Russia. State broadcaster CCTV displayed a diagram showing the miners trapped about a third of a mile underground. Footage showed one entrance was blocked and rescuers in orange suits with breathing equipment attempting to enter through another.