Seven killed in mining accident in southwest China

A mining accident in southwest China on Wednesday (Aug 21) killed seven people, with one person left trapped, according to China's local media.

The accident occurred at around 10 am as the workers were closing a ventilation shaft at a coal mine in Sichuan province of China's Leshan, China's state broadcaster CCTV reported.

However, the outlet has not given any details of what happened during the incident, but they stated that initially, the accident trapped eight people.

According to the state broadcaster, as of Wednesday afternoon, seven people have been found dead, and one other trapped person is still being searched for with all-out efforts.

Search and rescue operations are still underway for the missing person.

Although, mine safety in China has improved in recent decades, according tothe localmedia reports, many of these were also once overlooked.

However, such kind of accidents in China are still taking place frequently in those industries where safety protocols are often neglected, majorly at the rudimentary sites.

Also Read: Another mine accident in China takes 11 lives: State media

Earlier in March, two separate coal mine accidents killed 12 people in China in 24 hours. In the first accident, an underground coal bunker in Zhongyang County province collapsed, killing five people, and leaving two missing.

In the other accident, seven people were found dead and two were missing after a gas explosion at Huaihe Energy's coal mine in China's eastern Anhui province.

Watch |Section of mountain at Coal mine in China collapses, 10 killed

In February last year, a major disaster happened when a slope at an open-pit coal mine in the northern Inner Mongolia region suddenly collapsed, burying dozens of people and vehicles.

Following this, the Chinese state media reported an official saying 53 people died or were unaccounted for when search and rescue work concluded two weeks later.

(With inputs from agencies)