Beijing — Sixteen people were killed in a coal mine accident in Panzhou city in southwestern China’s Guizhou province on Sunday, according to a filing by the mine’s owner, Guizhou Panjiang Refined Coal Co, with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday.
Rescue operations at the mine are under way, and a team has been dispatched to Guizhou province to guide the efforts, state media outlet Xinhua reported on Monday.
The area has a total production capacity of about 52.5 million metric tons per year of mostly coking coal, representing about 5% of China’s coking coal production capacity, according to Mysteel.
The company operates seven coal mines with a total capacity of about 17.3 million tons. The mine where the accident took place has an annual capacity of 3.1 million tons, according to Mysteel.
The accident follows a string of similar incidents in the country’s coal mines, including a collapse at an open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia region in February that killed 53 people.
Reporting by Andrew Hayley and the Beijing newsroom. Editing by Gerry Doyle – Reuters
