A rock burst has ripped through a coal mine in east China’s Shandong Province, killing at least two workers and leaving 20 others trapped. The incident happened at a coal mine in Yuncheng County, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The burst happened on Saturday night and it had destroyed part of a water drainage tunnel in the coal mine. At that time of the accident, 334 people were working underground, of which 312 were later lifted, Zhai Minghua, an expert with Shandong Energy Group Co. Ltd, which owns the coal mine, was quoted as saying by the report.
Rescue work is under way. Bodies of two workers were retrieved on Sunday and search is on for the remaining 20 trapped workers, Zhai said, adding that the initial rescue operation was hampered by the falling of fractured rocks in the tunnel.
In August, 13 miners were killed in a mine explosion in southern China. Rock burst accidents are often caused by fractures in rocks due to mining. Though the number of deaths has reduced in recent years, mining accidents are common in China, the world’s largest coal producer.