Five miners dead, 45 missing in collapsed China mine

At least five miners have been confirmed killed while 45 are missing after a coal mine collapsed on them in China’s northern region of Inner Mongolia, state media, CCTV, reported on Thursday.

The open-pit mine operated by a local firm, Xinjing Coal Mining Company, reportedly collapsed in a landslide, leaving dozens of workers buried under a huge pile of debris half a kilometre wide and an estimated 80 m high, the report said.

Security camera footage aired on CCTV showed an avalanche of rock and soil falling from one side of the mountain into the mine pit, burying a number of excavators and dump trucks.

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The report adds that over three hundred rescue workers were deployed to the site using heavy machinery and rescue dogs to aid in their search for the trapped miners.

The China National Health Commission said six injured people had been rescued from the mine while rescue operations are still ongoing.

President Xi Jinping in a statement, has ordered search and rescue efforts, although a second landslide has hampered the work to find survivors.

“We must make every possible effort to rescue the missing persons and treat the injured,” Xi said.

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