According to state media, at least twelve people died and 13 were injured in a coal mine accident in northeast China on Thursday.
The tragedy occurred at 3:50 p.m. local time (7:50 a.m.) on Wednesday at a mine on the outskirts of Jixi city in Heilongjiang province, public television CCTV said.
“An accident” involving one of the vehicles used to drive down into the mine “resulted in 12 deaths and 13 injuries,” the broadcaster said on Thursday. The causes of the disaster “are the subject of an investigation,” she said.
Mine safety in China has improved significantly in recent decades, as has media coverage of these incidents, many of which were once overlooked.
However, due to the dangers in the industry and the sometimes arbitrary application of safety regulations, accidents still occur regularly.
In November, an accident at another coal mine in Heilongjiang killed 11 people.
In September, a coal mine fire in the southwestern province of Guizhou killed at least 16 people.
The collapse of an open coal mine in February in Inner Mongolia (north) killed 53 people. Dozens of people and vehicles were buried.