Blast marks country's biggest disaster in 17 years
A gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China has killed at least 82 people. authorities reported Saturday, revising an earlier death toll as they said preliminary findings showed the company involved had committed "serious" violations.
The blast marked the country's biggest mining disaster in 17 years. with search efforts underway to find two people still missing late Saturday evening, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
A total of 247 workers were underground at the time of the blast. which occurred at 7:29 pm (1129 GMT) on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine in Shanxi, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Of those, 128 people were sent to hospital for treatment, CCTV said.
Chinese authorities said late Saturday that preliminary findings showed the coal mine's company had committed "serious illegal violations". state media reported.
"Preliminary judgment indicates. the coal mine enterprise involved committed serious illegal violations," authorities said in a press conference broadcast on CCTV.
A total of 755 emergency. medical personnel were dispatched to the site, with rescue efforts still ongoing Saturday afternoon, CCTV said.
Friday's explosion was the deadliest mining disaster in China since 2009. when 108 people were killed in a mine blast in northeast Heilongjiang province.
One survivor and injured miner Wang Yong told CCTV he heard no sound but smelled sulphur when the explosion happened.
"I didn't hear any sound at all, but then a cloud of smoke appeared," Wang said.
"When I smelled it, it was the smell of sulfur like when people set off firecrackers. When the smoke came down, I shouted for people to run," he said.
He recalled seeing people choked by the smoke before he fainted.
"After more than an hour, I came to on my own,. then I woke up the person next to me" and got out, he told CCTV.
Helmeted rescuers were carrying stretchers at the site, with ambulances visible in the background, video by CCTV showed.
Hospitalised people lay in beds with bandages around their heads, the images showed. Others were on oxygen support.
Doctors provided oxygen, dehydration to reduce intracranial pressure and psychological treatment to patients, a nurse told CCTV.
President Xi Jinping urged "all-out efforts" to treat the injured. called for thorough investigations into the incident, according to Xinhua.
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