More than 90 people killed after huge explosion rips through Chinese coal mine

State news agency Xinhua confirmed the news, with at least 90 people being confirmed dead.

Rescue operations are now underway.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for no effort to be spared to treat the injured and search for the missing people.

He has also asked his government to investigate the cause of the accident and hold those responsible to account.

The explosion happened at the Liushenyu Coal Mine, run by the Tongzhou Group, in Shanxi Province.

Officials running the coal mine have been detained.

Footage from state media shows paramedics carrying stretchers to the site, with ambulances in the background.

More than 100 people are said to have been taken to hospital.

Reports suggest carbon monoxide levels had "exceeded limits" at the coal mine.

Shanxi is one of China's poorer provinces and is known as the country's coal-mining capital.

China's Ministry of Emergency Management has sent 345 personnel to help with the operation.

The main entrance of the mine features a steep slope of around 30 degrees, and all rescue supplies can only be transported in and out by mine cars.

Xinhua had initially reported eight people had died before the number rose dramatically.

The state media did not explain the jump in the death toll.

Safety standards have been improved in recent years; however, in the early 2000's, deadly accidents were common in Chinese mines.

China is the world's biggest consumer of coal and the largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

In 2023, a collapse at a coal mine in the Inner Mongolia region killed 53 people.

In 2009, an explosion at a mine in Heilongjiang province killed more than 100.

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