Mine collapse smothers 21 underground

Facility in Shaanxi province passed a safety assessment in May last year

A collapse at a coal mine in Shenmu, Shaanxi province on Saturday killed 21 miners, local authorities said.

The collapse happened around 4:30 pm at the Lijiagou coal mine, Baiji Mining. A total of 87 miners were working underground, and 66 were lifted to safety.

The Shenmu city government said in a news release that all the bodies had been recovered by 12:35 pm on Sunday.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

According to the website of Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the province's economic planner, construction of the Lijiagou coal mine was approved in 2010. The commission said it approved the project for reasonable development of local coal resources and to support local economic development.

With a total investment of 282 million yuan ($41.7 million), the annual output capacity of the mine was 450,000 metric tons. Almost 200 million yuan of the investment, however, came from bank loans, according to a statement on the commission's website in 2010.

Baiji Mining is operated by Shandong Lutai Holding Group, a State-owned company headquartered in Jining, Shandong province.

According to an article published on the website of the Jining State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Lijiagou mine passed a safety assessment by the Shaanxi coal mine safety authority in May.

Huang Yuzhi, vice-minister of emergency management and head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, arrived at the site to oversee the rescue and investigative work.

In 2017, there were 375 fatalities recorded in coal mines around China, according to the administration. Figures for 2018 are not yet available.