BEIJING—At least sixteen people were killed in a coal mine accident in Panzhou city in southwestern China’s Guizhou province on Sunday, according to a filing by the mine’s owner, Guizhou Panjiang Refined Coal Co., with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday.
The actual number of casualties from such events may be much higher. The actual number of casualties is difficult to verify, as the Chinese regime routinely suppresses or alters information.
All coal mines in Panzhou city have suspending production for a day, according to Shanghai-based commodities consultancy Mysteel. Guizhou’s mine safety administration told Reuters it did not have information on the situation.
The area has a total production capacity of about 52.5 million metric tons per year of mostly coking coal, representing about 5 percent of China’s coking coal production capacity, according to Mysteel.
The company operates seven coal mines with a total capacity of about 17.3 million tons. The mine where the accident took place has an annual capacity of 3.1 million tons, according to Mysteel.
The accident follows a string of similar incidents in the country’s coal mines, including a collapse at an open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia region in February that killed at least 53 people.
