China's Worst Mining Disasters
Underground disasters where 50 or more miners died
Displayed in descending date order

See our China Mine Disaster Watch for accidents since January 2004

See also The Eleven Deadliest Mining Disasters
 

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Date Mine Name Location Type Mineral Dead Planets
11/21/2009 Longmei Mine Heilongjiang Explosion Coal 108
09/07/2009 Xinhua No. 4 Mine Henan Explosion Coal 79
02/21/2009 Tunlan Mine Shanxi Explosion Coal 78
09/08/2008 Tashan Iron Mine Shanxi Mudslide Coal 260
12/06/2007 Xinyao Mine Shanxi Explosion Coal 105
08/18/2007 Huayuan Mine Shandong H2O Inundation Coal 172
07/15/2006 Linjiazhuang Coal Mine Shanxi Explosion Coal 57
05/18/2006 Xinjing Coal Mine Shanxi H2O Inundation Coal 56
12/07/2005 Liuguantun Colliery Hebei Explosion Coal 103
11/27/2005 Dongfeng Mine Heilongjiang Explosion Coal 171
08/07/2005 Daxing Colliery Guangdong H2O Inundation Coal 123
07/11/2005 Shenlong Mine Xinjiang Explosion Coal 83
03/19/2005 Xishui Colliery and neighboring Kangjiayao Coal Mines Shanxi Explosion Coal 72
02/14/2005 Sujiawan Colliery Liaoning Explosion Coal 214
11/28/2004 Chenjiashan Mine Shaanxi Explosion Coal 166
10/20/2004 Daping Mine Henan Explosion Coal 148
06/20/2002 Chengzihe Mine Jixi City Explosion Coal 124
09/27/2000 Muchonggou Mine Guizhou Explosion Coal 162
04/21/1991 Sanjiaohe Mine Shanxi Explosion Coal 147
05/09/1960 Laobaidong Mine Shanxi Explosion Coal 684
04/26/1942 Honkeiko Mine Manchuria Explosion Coal 1,549

Eleven Deadliest Mining Disasters
1. The worst mining disaster ever happened in China on 26 April 1942.  In this coal dust explosion at the Honkeiko coal mine near Benxi in Japanese-occupied Manchuria, 1,549 miners died.
2. On 10 March 1906, 1,099 miners (this included many young children) died in a coal dust explosion in Courrieres, in France.
3. On 9 May 1960, an explosion at the Laobaidong mine in Datong, Shanxi province, killed 684 miners.
4. At the Missui Miike coal mine in Japan, 458 miners were killed in an explosion on 9 November 1963.  Hundreds of people were injured.
5. 483 men and boys were killed in the worst Welsh coal mining disaster on 14 October 1913 at Senghenydd.  A coal dust explosion was the cause of the tragedy.
6. On 1 January 1960, 435 miners died in a mining disaster at Coalbrook in South Africa.  Rock falls and methane poisoning were to blame.
7. In Wankie, in Zimbabwe, a coal mine explosion killed 427 miners on June 6, 1972.
8. On 28 May 1965, in Dhanbad, India, 375 miners were killed in a coal mine fire.
9. Again in India, flooding and a coal mine explosion killed 372 miners on 27 December 1975.
10. 362 miners were killed in the biggest mining disaster in the United States at Monongah on 6 December 1907.  Explosions and poisonous gases were the cause of these deaths.
11. Several explosions at the Barnsley, Oaks Colliery, Barnsley, Yorkshire, England on 12 December 1866 led to the deaths of 361 miners, 27 of whom were rescuers who were in the mine after the first explosion.