Authorities have suspended all Tongzhou Group mining operations and launched a criminal investigation after a deadly underground gas explosion occurred at the Liushenyu Coal Mine in Shanxi, China.
Chinese authorities have detained members of the management team at Tongzhou Group’s Liushenyu Coal Mine and suspended production across all four of the company’s mines following a gas explosion in Shanxi province.
The incident has intensified scrutiny of mine safety enforcement and corporate accountability across China’s coal sector.
President Xi Jinping ordered a rigorous investigation into the incident and said those found responsible would be severely punished, according to Chinese state media.
The explosion occurred at approximately 7:29 pm local time on Friday while 247 workers were underground.
Chinese rescue officials confirmed that more than 82 miners had died, with around 126 hospitalised.
Emergency operations were complicated by water accumulation near the blast zone and discrepancies between mine blueprints and the actual underground layout.
The blast has been widely reported as China’s deadliest mining accident since 2009, when more than 100 miners perished in a gas explosion at the Xinxing coal mine in Heilongjiang province.
Tongzhou Group had already received two administrative penalties in 2025 linked to safety issues, while the Liushenyu operation had previously been flagged by China’s National Mine Safety Administration as presenting severe safety hazards in 2024, according to China Daily.
The mine carries an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of coal, placing it among mid-sized underground operations by Chinese standards.
Rescue teams deployed robotic inspection systems equipped with gas sensors and infrared cameras to access sections of the workings that remained unreachable by personnel.
Chinese authorities reported that carbon monoxide levels at the mine exceeded safety limits in the aftermath of the explosion.
Survivors interviewed by state media described smoke and sulphur-like fumes spreading rapidly through underground tunnels, with miners collapsing as they attempted to escape.
Analysis from GlobalData, in its China Coal Mining to 2035 report, found that deeper mining operations in China face mounting exposure to hazards including gas explosions, flooding, and cave-ins.
The report also documented continuing inconsistencies in safety practices between larger state-backed operators and smaller mining groups.
Coal production growth in China slowed during the second half of 2025, partly as a result of intensified safety inspections and regulatory actions, particularly across Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.
Authorities in Shanxi had already halted or significantly scaled back dozens of mines due to safety-related constraints before the explosion occurred.
Shanxi province sits at the heart of China’s coal industry, accounting for more than a quarter of the country’s total coal output.
GlobalData identified Shanxi and Inner Mongolia as China’s dominant coal reserve regions and estimated that the country produced approximately 4.9 billion tonnes of coal in 2025, maintaining its standing as the world’s largest coal producer.
GlobalData noted that Chinese regulators strengthened mine safety enforcement in 2025 through increased penalties, stricter oversight of production limits, and expanded inspections targeting high-risk mines and overproduction.
Despite those efforts, the Liushenyu disaster suggests enforcement gaps remain, particularly at smaller private operators where safety culture and investment in risk mitigation have historically lagged behind state-owned peers.
