Six dead, four still trapped in Xinjiang coal mine collapse

Six people have been killed and four people remain trapped after a coal mine that caved in Sunday afternoon in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local authorities said Wednesday.

In total, 19 people were working underground at Tianli Coal Mine when the tunnel collapsed at around 2:50 p.m. on Sunday in Shache County, the regional coal mine safety inspection authority said.

About 600 rescuers have taken part in the rescue, with about 150 of them working in the pit. The collapsed site is 1.2 kilometers away from the pit entrance, and the buried section, with a width of 1.5 meter and a height of 1.6 meters, is 90 meters long.

Rescuers are trying to dig through the collapsed tunnel and shore it along the way to prevent a second collapse. By Wednesday morning they were reportedly 15 meters away from where the trapped workers are.

The chief engineer, head, and other senior figures of the mine are in police custody. The mine is about 140 kilometers from the county seat of Shache.