A fire at the Caojiawa gold mine located in the city of Zhaoyuan in eastern China’s Shandong province has reportedly killed six people.
Local authorities were cited by news agency Xinhua as saying that the fire occurred at around 6am local time during maintenance at the mine on 16 February 2021.
Following the fire, ten miners were trapped under the mine shaft. However, four people have been rescued.
Sources with the municipal government of Zhaoyuan were quoted by ANI news agency as saying that to undertake rescue at the mine, nearly 200 people were deployed.
The fire was the second such incident in Shandong province, where an explosion occurred at the Hushan mine on 10 January 2021 trapping a total of 22 workers.
Rescue teams succeeded in pulling 11 gold miners to safety after 14 days of the accident. At least 10 miners were killed in the accident.
Reuters cited a state media report as saying that the recent accidents trigged the launch of a new campaign by the local government to close facilities which are considered unsafe.
Shandong province emergency bureau said it plans to start a comprehensive and thorough inspection programme by the end of March. The programme aims to assess the safety risks at all its non-coal mines.
The mines that fail the inspection will be closed, according to the bureau.
