82 dead, 247 trapped in China coal mine gas explosion

82 people have been confirmed dead in a gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s northern province of Shanxi.

Official news agency Xinhua said the explosion occurred at Changzhi city’s Liushenyu coal mine on Friday evening, adding that 247 workers were trapped underground.

The agency initially reported on Saturday morning that eight people were killed and 38 were trapped underground.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation, while rescue operation has commenced.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an all-out effort to rescue the missing and an investigation of the accident’s cause while holding those responsible accountable, according to Xinhua.

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 in 2025, or almost a third of China’s total.