An explosion ripped through the Liushenyu coal mine in China’s Shanxi province on May 22, killing 82 people and injuring more than 120 others. The blast marks the country’s deadliest coal mining disaster in over a decade and halts a period of steady safety improvements that had dramatically reduced fatalities across the sector.
The tragedy has exposed systemic safety breaches at the privately operated facility. Chinese authorities report that the mine’s operator, Tongzhou Group, committed serious illegal violations, including maintaining secret tunnels that complicated rescue efforts and failing to register roughly half of the workers underground. The incident underscores the ongoing tension between China’s pivot toward green energy and its continued reliance on coal, which Beijing maintains is essential for baseload power and energy security.
Survivors described a chaotic scene immediately following the blast. “The explosion swept to the entrance and knocked all of us down. We could not see anyone; the dust was incredibly thick,” a survivor told the state-run news outlet CCTV. “After running for more than 10 minutes, my consciousness blurred. I was terrified.” Rescue teams have since extinguished hopes of finding additional survivors.
While authorities have not yet confirmed the precise ignition source for the blast, experts indicate that such explosions typically occur when a buildup of methane gas or coal dust encounters a spark. Hong Chen, a professor at Jiangnan University’s Institute for National Security and Green Development, said the incident points to operational failures rather than inherent geological risks. “Based on the coal mine safety management and technical systems we have in place today, let me be very clear about this: this accident should not have happened,” he told the BBC.
State media investigations revealed widespread regulatory noncompliance at the site. A worker told Chinese outlet Lengshan Record that Tongzhou Group prohibited underground workers from carrying mandatory tracking devices because the mine was extracting coal from seams that lacked official approval. “Wearing trackers would expose it,” the worker said.
Authorities have placed Tongzhou Group’s leadership under control measures and suspended operations at the company’s other mines. The Liushenyu facility had previously appeared on a 2024 list compiled by the Chinese National Mine Safety Administration of coal mines with severe safety hazards. Tongzhou Group has not responded to the allegations.
Shanxi province sits at the center of China’s coal industry, accounting for nearly 30% of national output. Between 1980 and 2010, an average of 5,853 people died annually in Chinese coal mines as local authorities prioritized output over safety. A package of regulatory tightening, mechanization, and the closure of unsafe private mines reduced annual fatalities to 333 by 2018, even as total output doubled. “Fewer people, more safety; no people, absolute safety,” Hong Chen said, describing the industry’s modern operational ideal.
Despite leading global production of solar panels and wind turbines and targeting net-zero emissions by 2060, China remains the world’s largest coal producer. The country produced just over half of global output in 2024. Roc Shi, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney, said coal’s strategic role is shifting. “Coal is moving from being the engine of growth toward being a backstop for energy security and power system reliability,” Shi told the BBC. The government frequently refers to coal as a ballast for energy security, noting its role in stabilizing domestic grids during recent global energy disruptions.
For many residents in Shanxi, mining remains an economic necessity despite the known hazards. “I’ll keep doing this job, because in our county, apart from work at the mines, it’s hard to find anything else,” an above-ground electrician told the BBC. Another worker described the emotional toll of the disaster: “Ordinary people’s lives are wretched.”
Authorities have vowed to hold those responsible for the Liushenyu blast accountable. For former miners who worked at the site, the response offers little comfort. “The state attaches great importance to it,” said Chen, who worked at the mine for two years before the disaster. “But can the miners who died come back to life?”