The collapse of a mining site in China has killed at least four people, according to a new count announced Thursday by state media, the search for dozens of missing having resumed after an interruption following a landslide.
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Workers were buried at around 1 p.m. (0500 GMT) on Wednesday when a 180-meter-high hill collapsed at an open-pit coal mine in western Inner Mongolia (north), according to CCTV television. .
Hundreds of rescuers were dispatched to the scene of the tragedy, located in the left banner of Alxa – the name of an administrative area in the region.
Rescue operations had been interrupted after a landslide on Wednesday evening, but have since resumed, CCTV said on Thursday, adding that the tally now stood at four dead, six injured and 49 missing.
The channel broadcast images of rescuers in orange coveralls and yellow helmets, amid a mountain of rust-colored rubble as well as diggers clearing some of the debris.
“We had just returned to work. Around 1:15 p.m. rocks were seen to start falling from the top of the hill. It was getting stronger and stronger,” surviving worker Ma Jianping told CCTV.
“It was decided to evacuate the premises. But he was already too late. The whole hill collapsed,” he said, lying on his hospital bed.
Ongoing investigation
The injured are all in stable condition, a hospital doctor told the channel.
The causes of the tragedy are not yet known. The Xinjing Coal Mining Company, the operator of the mine site according to CCTV, did not respond to phone calls from AFP on Thursday.
“The reasons for the collapse are currently under investigation” and “the personnel concerned”, a term which probably refers to those responsible for the mine, have been arrested, said CCTV, citing the authorities.
A video posted on social media – believed to have been posted by a truck driver carrying coal – shows rocks cascading down a slope kicking up clouds of brown dust that engulf several vehicles.
“The whole slope collapsed (…) How many people died because of this?” launches a male voice in the background. “If I had lined up there today, I would have died in there too.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday evening ordered local authorities to “do everything possible to search for and rescue missing persons,” according to CCTV.
Frequent accidents
Alxa Left Banner is a sparsely populated area of Inner Mongolia, whose economy is largely based on mining.
Mine safety has improved in recent decades in the country, as has the media coverage of these incidents, many of which were once overlooked.
But accidents still occur regularly, due to the danger inherent in the sector and the sometimes random application of safety instructions.
At the end of December, 40 people were working underground at the time of the collapse of a gold mine in the Xinjiang region (Northwest) and 22 had been able to get out.
In December 2021, two miners who were stranded in a flooded coal mine in Shanxi (North) died and 20 others were saved after rescue operations.
And in September 2021, 19 miners trapped underground after the collapse of a coal mine in Qinghai province (Northwest) were found dead after a long search.