A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining. Most of the deaths nowadays occur in developing countries, especially China and rural parts of developed countries.

Mining accidents can have a variety of causes, including leaks of poisonous gases such as hydrogen sulfide or explosive natural gases, especially firedamp or methane, dust explosions, collapsing of mine stopes, mining-induced seismicity, flooding, or general mechanical errors from improperly used or malfunctioning mining equipment (such as safety lamps or electrical equipment). Use of improper explosives underground can also cause methane and coal-dust explosions.

Worst mining disaster in history

On April 26, 1942 in the Benxihu (Honkeiko) Colliery (coal mine), what is believed to have been the world's worst mining disaster took place, killing 1,549 miners. The disaster occurred in an area that is now within the bounds of modern-day China, but was then in a portion of China occupied by the Japanese, just north of present-day Korea. The Japanese administrators of the mine had the actual mining work performed by forced Chinese labor under harsh conditions. The disaster first began with a mine fire, but at the time, a hasty decision was made by the Japanese mine operators to promptly cut off the ventilation and to completely seal off the mine to kill the fire. This reportedly left many unevacuated workers still alive within the sealed-off area of the mine to eventually also suffocate. Once the fire was put out in this manner and the mine re-opened, it took 10 days to remove all of the bodies. Of those killed, 1,518 were Chinese, and 31 were Japanese. Afterwards, several bodies were buried in a mass grave. According to a follow-up investigation carried out by the Soviet Union, the majority of the fatalities were not caused by the initial fire, but instead were the result of secondary carbon monoxide poisoning and suffocation.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/

Accidents by year

• 19th century
  • May 25th, 1812: Felling mine disasters, (also known as Brandling Main) in Britain. The disaster which claimed 92 lives. The loss of life in 1812 disaster was one of the motivators for the development of the miners' safety lamp.
  • December 24th, 1813: Felling mine disaster, (also known as Brandling Main) in Britain. At 01:30 an exploded took place, that killed 9 men and 13 boys along with 12 horses. All the dead were in the headways by William Pit (the upcast pit). Those in the boards away from William Pit were saved. The (Newcastle Courant 1813) reported the supposition that "the hydrogen [sic] took fire at the crane lamp, in the south headways". Thomson also reports this but warns against too early an assumption, mentioning other possibilities such as the failure of a stopping or furnace mismanagement.
  • September 28th, 1844: Haswell Colliery disaster, in a village in County Durham, in England. An explosion ripped through Haswell Colliery killing 95 men and boys. A government report was produced by Charles Lyell and Michael Faraday, after William Prowting Roberts the "miners' attorney general" held an inquest, which showed that the explosion was caused by coal dust igniting.
  • June 22nd, 1847: Felling mine disaster, (also known as Brandling Main) in Britain. Shortly after 21:00, an explosion occurred at Felling Colliery. Six miners were killed, four outright and two died of their injuries over the following two days. The surgeon employed by the mine owners tried, unsuccessfully, to treat the injured. Two of the dead were killed immediately by a fall of rock from the roof, the other two by afterdamp. As well as the human cost, eighteen horses were killed either by the explosion or by the afterdamp.
  • July 15th, 1855: Astley Pit disaster, in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England. Four men were being wound out of the mine when they were thrown over the headstocks (the machinery at the top of the shaft which brings the cage up and down the shaft). Nine men were killed in the incident.
  • March 25th, 1857: Astley Pit disaster, in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England. A falling stone killed a worker, Benjamin Rowson, and in 1862 a second incident killed another miner but the man's name is not known.
  • January 16th, 1862: Hartley Colliery disaster, (also known as the Hartley Pit disaster or Hester Pit disaster), in Northumberland, England. The coal mining accident resulted in the deaths of 204 men. The beam of the pit's pumping engine broke and fell down the shaft, trapping the men below. The disaster prompted a change in UK law that henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
  • December 12th, 1866: Oaks Colliery explosion, at the Oaks Colliery, near Stairfoot, Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire. The explosion killed more than 380 miners and rescuers. The disaster happened after a series of explosions caused by flammable gases ripped through the workings. It remains the worst colliery or mining disaster in England, and the second worst mining accident in the United Kingdom, after the Welsh Senghenydd Colliery Disaster.
  • November 08th, 1867: Ferndale Colliery disaster, was a series of nine coal mines, located close to the village of Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. On Friday 8 November 1867, the whole district was shaken by two consecutive explosions at Ferndale No.1, killing 178 miners. Rescuers were hampered by roof falls, and with the air so foul, with some trepidation the furnace which powered the ventilation was relit. It took a month to recover the remains of the 178 men and boys, with most bodies showing signs of severe burning, and many so badly disfigured it made identification impossible. At the subsequent enquiry, the lamp keeper stated that safety locks had been tampered with, and incidents regularly occurred that breached the company's rules. Although reported to the mine manager, these breaches were ignored.
  • June 10th, 1869: Ferndale Colliery disaster, was a series of nine coal mines, located close to the village of Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. An explosion occurred killing 53 men and boys. The resultant inquest criticised the managers of the pit for not implementing all the recommendations made after the 1867 explosion. Further they criticised the pits ventilation system, which they concluded did not manage to properly distribute air throughout all the pit.
  • March 08th, 1870: Astley Pit disaster, in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England. An explosion in the south side of the pit resulted in national notoriety, 200 men were "benumbed" (stunned and deafened), 2 badly injured and 9 men killed. This incident was mentioned in the House of Commons on 21 April 1874, after the "deep pit disaster". Mr MacDonald called for a "Return of all the lives lost in the Astley Deep Pit, Dukinfield, with cause of the loss of life and date of the same; and, Copy of the opinion of the Inspector of the district, Mr. Wynne, on the management and state of ventilation of the Mine at the time of explosion on the 8th day of March 1870.
  • December 06th, 1872: Springwell Pit disaster, near Dawley, Shropshire (now part of Telford). Miners at the pit would grab hold of a chain running the depth of the mine shaft and be hoisted 150 ft to the surface. On this day, eight miners clung to the chain. When 50 ft from the base of the lower part of the chain snapped, causing the miners to fall to the base of the shaft, before the chain, estimated to weigh 1 tonne, landed on top of them. All of them were killed instantly, except one, who died shortly after being brought to the surface.
  • May 13th, 1873: Drummond Mine explosion, also the Drummond Colliery Disaster, was a mining accident that happened in Westville, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, killing nearly 60-70 miners. On Tuesday 13 May 1873, a miner named Robert McLeod set a routine gunpowder charge in the uppermost coalface; an unusual amount of gas was ignited and poured out. Although he attempted to extinguish the flames for twenty minutes, the mine filled with smoke, ventilation stopped and gas continued to accumulate. The manager, John Dunn, recognized that the fire was out of control and ordered an evacuation. It was too late; as he attempted to leave, the first explosion occurred and most of the miners then working underground were immediately killed or injured. The causes are uncertain. A firedamp explosion, likely of hydrogen sulfide, that triggered off a coal dust explosion is most likely. The mine had been just re-opened following a strike, leading to a buildup of "foul air." A coroner’s inquest ruled that the fire had followed from the use of gunpowder in the mine.
  • April 14th, 1874: Astley Deep Pit disaster, in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England. An explosion caused the roof of a tunnel to cave in and demolished several tunnels in the "Black mine" (coal seam) killing 51 men and boys and injuring 91.
  • December 04th, 1875: Naval Colliery pit disaster, at Penygraig (Head of the Rock), a village and community in the Rhondda Valley. A flood broke through into the mine, resulting in two miners drowning and the lives of many others placed at risk.
  • October 22nd, 1877: Blantyre mining disaster, in Blantyre, Scotland. On the morning of 22 October 1877, pits No. 2 and No. 3 of William Dixon's Blantyre Colliery were the site of an explosion which killed 207 miners, the youngest being a boy of 11. It was known that firedamp was present in the pit and it is likely that this was ignited by a naked flame. It remains Scotland's worst mining accident
  • March 05th, 1878: Blantyre mining disaster, in Blantyre, Scotland. On the afternoon of Tuesday 5th March 1878 at No. 3 pit, High Blantyre collieries, belonging to William Dixon Co Ltd, six men were killed in a cage accident.
  • February 21st, 1879: Kaitangata Mine accident, in South Otago, New Zealand. It was one of New Zealand's early industrial disasters and the first of its kind in New Zealand. Thirty-four miners lost their lives at 8am on 21 February 1879 in an underground explosion at Kaitangata.
  • July 02nd, 1879: Blantyre mining disaster, in Blantyre, Scotland. About 9 o'clock on the evening of Wednesday, the 2nd July, an explosion occurred in the Ell coal workings of No. 1 pit, Blantyre Colliery, when 31 persons were in the pit. Four of them were got out alive within eight hours of the accident; two others were found alive, but died before they could be brought to the surface ; the remaining 25 were all found dead. Twenty-one of the bodies were got out on Thursday forenoon, and the remaining four on Friday before 4 o'clock a.m. One of the survivors has since died, so that out of the 31 men who were in the pit at the time, 28 are dead and three survive.
  • September 08th, 1880: Naval Colliery pit disaster, was a coal mine in County Durham in the North of England. The mine suffered an underground explosion which saw the deaths of upwards of 160 people including surface workers and rescuers.
  • December 10th, 1880: Naval Colliery pit disaster, at Penygraig (Head of the Rock), a village and community in the Rhondda Valley. A gas explosion took the lives of 101 miners out of the 106 who were working in the mine at the time.
  • February 16th, 1882: Trimdon Grange colliery disaster, in Trimdon Grange, a village in County Durham, in England. An explosion causing the deaths of 69 men and boys.
    The inquest concluded: There is no room for doubt that the explosion had its origin in the Pit Narrow Board District, and that it was caused by the diffusion of a sudden "squeeze" or outburst of gas forced, with accompanying dust, towards the working face by a heavy fall of roof over the northern edge of the Pit Narrow Board goaf, and driven out with a velocity which sent the flame through a miner's lamp.
  • June 18th, 1885: Trencherbone mine disaster, outcropped at Stoneclough in the Irwell Valley and the seam outcropped between Schofield Lane and Bag Lane in Atherton. The mine is part of Clifton Hall Colliery, located in the Irwell Valley, just off Lumn's Lane. It is one of two coal mines in Clifton (the other was Wet Earth Colliery) on the Manchester Coalfield, historically in Lancashire which was incorporated into the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England in 1974. On 18 June 1885, an explosion in the Trencherbone mine killed 178 men and boys, to whom there is a monument in St. Augustine's churchyard in Pendlebury where 64 victims were buried. It is thought that the explosion was caused by firedamp igniting on contact with a candle.
  • December 23rd, 1885: Mardy Colliery disaster, located in the South Wales village of Maerdy (Welsh: Y Maerdy), in the Rhondda Valley, located in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. By 1885, the colliery was employing 961 men, 200 on the night shift and 761 on the day shift. At approximately 2.40 p.m. on Wednesday 23 December 1885, with 750 men below ground, a loud report was heard above ground, and a column of smoke and dust then bellowed from the upcast shaft.
    A rescue team led by Mr. William Thomas, a director of Lockett's Merthyr Steam Coal Company, immediately descended. Finding the workers in the West district had survived, they also joined the rescue effort. The team found a group of 30 men and boys on the East district, who having been working 120 yards (110 m) below the explosion, had survived. But bodies were readily found, and with due care for the safety of the rescuers, it took until the following Sunday to complete the recovery of all 81 bodies: 63 from suffocation; 18 from burns and violence.
  • August 13th, 1886: Bedford Colliery disaster, at Bedford, Leigh in what then was Lancashire. At about 10.45a.m. in the Crombouke mine (seam) at a depth of about 530 yards and 700 yards from the pit-eye (shaft bottom) an explosion of firedamp caused the death of 38 miners at Bedford No.2 Pit. 159 men and boys were underground working a shift that started at 6.00 a.m. and would have ended mid afternoon.
  • January 27th, 1887: Naval Colliery pit disaster, at Penygraig (Head of the Rock), a village and community in the Rhondda Valley. An explosion led to the death of 14 men.
  • February 18th, 1887: National Colliery disaster,in Wattstown (Welsh: Aberllechau), a village located in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The accident occurred in-between the day and night shifts, which probably saved many lives as 200 men were yet to make their descent into the mine. The explosion was so powerful it damaged the winding gear which delayed the rescue by several hours. Once the rescuers were able to descend they managed to bring to the surface 38 men, 29 of whom were uninjured. In total, the death toll counted thirty men and boys, with a total of 12 injured. Although an inquest jury could not come to a conclusion to the cause of the explosion, in his report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, F.A. Basanquet, placed the cause of the disaster as an explosive cap being fired in an area where there had been a buildup of flammable gas.
  • May 03rd, 1887: Nanaimo mine explosion, in Nanaimo, British Columbia. An explosion started deep underground in the Number One Coal Mine, after explosives were laid improperly. Although past documents put the death toll at 148, researchers have since revised the number to 150, including 53 Chinese workers.
  • May 28th, 1887: Udston mining disaster, in Hamilton, Scotland. 73 miners died in a firedamp explosion at Udston Colliery. Caused, it is thought, by unauthorised shot firing the explosion is said to be Scotland's second worst coal mining disaster.
  • September 05th, 1889: Mauricewood Colliery disaster, near Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland. at around noon sections of the wood lining of the Mauricewood Colliery ignited and the ensuing fire spread to a nearby coal seam. At that time 70 men and boys were working underground, of which 63 died and 7 survived. The underground fire took four days to extinguish.
  • February 21st, 1891: Springhill Mine Disasters,near the town of Springhill in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. It occured when accumulated coal dust caused an horrific explosion which swept through Nos.1 and 2 Collieries, leaving 125 dead and dozens more injured.
  • August 26th, 1892: Parc Slip Colliery disaster, was a coal mine near situated at Aberkenfig, near Tondu in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. At 8.20 am an explosion occurred, which was apparently caused by a hole in one of the workers' Davy lamps. At that time 146 men and boys were working within the mine. Rescue attempts were hampered by roof falls, but by 4pm 42 miners had been brought out alive, some of whom died later of their injuries. The final death toll was 112 men and boys.
  • April 11th, 1893: Great Western Mine disaster, also known as Hetty Pit, was a coal mine, at Hopkinstown, near Pontypridd, Glamorgan in South Walse. A fire in the colliery led to the deaths of 63 men and boys. The ages of the dead ranged from 14 to 61. A total of 200 were reported as trapped but 150 were rescued. By 14 April 53 bodes has been recovered.
    Sparks from the wooden brake blocks of a haulage engine had set fire to nearby brattice sheets. The fire the spread quickly, fanned by the strong ventilation and ignited timber supports, sending dense clouds of smoke and fumes into the mine workings. The death toll would have been much higher had it not been for the actions of the district fireman, Thomas Prosser. Prosser bravely ventured into the dense smoke and, by opening a set of air doors, diverted the noxious fumes out of the mine.
  • June 23rd, 1894: Albion Colliery disaster, in South Wales Valleys, located in the village of Cilfynydd, one mile north of Pontypridd. At 4 o'clock on Saturday 23 June 1894, a massive explosion on the Groves level caused by the ignition of coal dust following an explosion of firedamp, killed 290 men and boys. Of the 125 horses underground, only 2 survived. Despite 16 men emerging from the disaster with their lives, only five of these survived. It was the scene of the second worst disaster in the South Wales Coalfield after the later disaster at the Universal Colliery at Senghenydd in 1913.
  • March 26th, 1896: Brunner Mine disaster, a coal mine on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand. at 9:30am on Thursday 26 March 1896, when an explosion deep in the Brunner Mine killed all 65 miners below ground. The Brunner Mine disaster was the worst mining disaster in New Zealand's history.
    It seemed most likely that the explosion was caused by firedamp, a common hazard in coal mines when a pocket of methane gas is accidentally ignited and explodes. Firedamp is all the more hazardous because of the after effects of the explosion. Gases known as "afterdamp" - carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide produced by the explosion - often prove to be just as deadly and can kill miners unhurt by the explosion itself.
• 20th century
  • March 21st, 1900: Torbanlea Colliery disaster, near the town of Torbanlea in the colony of Queensland. It claimed the lives of five workers.
  • May 24th, 1901: Universal Colliery disaster, in the town of Senghenydd in the Aber Valley, roughly four miles north-west of the town of Caerphilly. It is within the county borough of Caerphilly, traditionally within the county of Glamorgan, Wales. A major gas and coal dust explosions damage was sustained to both shafts, resulting in a restricted rescue attempt, and 81 of the 82 men working in the mine were killed.
  • March 10th, 1905: Cambrian Colliery disaster, in Clydach Vale (Welsh: Cwmclydach and adjoining Blaenclydach) is a village adjoining Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the Rhondda Valley, Wales. An explosion occurred at the Cambrian Colliery No.1. The explosion was heard for miles around the valleys and resulted in the loss of 33 lives and serious injury to 14 others. The accident happened between the day and night shifts, otherwise the death toll would have been far higher.
  • July 11th, 1905: National Colliery disaster,in Wattstown (Welsh: Aberllechau), a village located in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. an explosion at the National Colliery in Wattstown resulted in the deaths of 120 men and boys. The report into the cause of the disaster was undertaken by the Inspector of Mines, which concluded that the explosion was caused by illegal use of blasting material underground. Shortly before the explosion occurred, the master sinker had requested blasting cable and a battery to charge the shot. The manager, Mr. Meredith had entered the mine a quarter of an hour before the explosion and was amongst the list of fatalities.
  • March 10th, 1906: Courrières mine disaster ,in Courrières, France. A coaldust explosion, the cause of which is not known with certainty killed 1,099 workers, including children, in the worst mine accident in Europe.
  • December 01st, 1907: Naomi Mine Explosion ,in Fayette City, PA. 34 workers died. Inadequate ventilation allowed pockets of explosive gas to accumulate in the interior of the mine. The gas was most likely ignited by an open light or electric arc, both of which would have been present at the time.
  • December 06th, 1907: Monongah Mining Disaster , in Monongah, West Virginia. Official death toll is 362, but due to inadequate record keeping, the true death toll could be around 500. Victims were mostly Italian immigrants, including children. Considered the worst coal mining accident in American history.
  • December 19th, 1907: Darr Mine Disaster , at Van Meter, Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near Smithton, killed 239 men and boys. It ranks as the worst coal mining disaster in Pennsylvania history. An inquiry carried out after the disaster determined that the blast was the result of miners carrying open lamps in an area cordoned off the previous day by the fire boss.
  • November 13th, 1909: Cherry Mine Disaster , in the Cherry, Illinois. The worst mine fire by deaths in America, in which 259 men and boys died.
  • October 14th, 1913: Senghenydd Colliery Disaster , also known as the Senghenydd Explosion (Welsh: Tanchwa Senghennydd), occurred in Senghenydd, near Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales. It killed 439 miners and one rescuer. It is the worst mining accident in the United Kingdom, and one of the most serious globally in terms of loss of life.
    The Cause: Just after 8am an explosion ripped through the west side underground workings. The cause was probably a buildup of firedamp (methane) being ignited by electric sparking from equipment such as electric bell signalling gear. The initial explosion disturbed coal dust present on the floor, raising a cloud that then also ignited. The shock wave ahead of the explosion raised yet more coal dust, so that the explosion was effectively self-fueling. Those miners not killed immediately by the fire and explosion would have died quickly from afterdamp, the noxious gases formed by combustion. These include lethal quantities of carbon monoxide, which kills very quickly by combining preferentially with haemoglobin in the blood, resulting in suffocation by lack of oxygen or anoxia.
  • October 22nd, 1913: Dawson Stag Mountain Mine Disaster , near Dawson, New Mexico, where 263 workers were killed due to illegal use of dynamite.
  • December 15th, 1914: Mitsubishi Hojyo Coal Mine Disaster , the deadliest mining accident in Japan, caused 687 deaths. It was caused by a gas explosion at the Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine located in the Kyushu Island of Japan.
    The gas explosion, which occurred underground, caused thick black smoke to come gushing out of the air vents before it finally blew the elevator cage 15m up into the air with a massive blast. People within a 200m radius of the mine entrance were also impacted by the explosion.
  • October 14th, 1919: Universal Colliery disaster, in the town of Senghenydd in the Aber Valley, roughly four miles north-west of the town of Caerphilly. It is within the county borough of Caerphilly, traditionally within the county of Glamorgan, Wales. Senghenydd suffered from what would become the very worst mining disaster and the single worst industrial accident in Britain's history, when a second gas explosion occurred, resulting in the loss of 439 lives. Nevertheless, many of the surviving miners went back to help their workmates who were either trapped or buried alive
  • 1927-1932: Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster, near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, United States. Over several years, 476 workers died from silicosis.
  • November 25th, 1941: Cambrian Colliery disaster, in Clydach Vale (Welsh: Cwmclydach and adjoining Blaenclydach) is a village adjoining Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the Rhondda Valley, Wales. Seven men were killed and 53 were injured when a trolley transporting miners down a sharply sloping shaft ran out of control. The incident happened at the 'Gorky' drift mine.
  • April 26th, 1942: Benxihu Colliery disaster , in Benxi, Liaoning, China. 1,549 workers died, in the worst coal mine accident ever in the world. A gas and coal-dust explosion in the mine sent flames bursting out of the mine shaft entrance.
  • August 08th, 1956: Bois du Cazier disaster , in Marcinelle, Belgium. A fire in the mines resulted in 262 casualties; of the 274 people working in Bois du Cazier on that morning, only twelve survived. 138 of the victims were Italian migrant workers.
  • November 01st, 1956: Springhill Mine Disasters,near the town of Springhill in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. It occured when a mine train hauling a load of fine coal dust to the surface encountered fresh, ventilated air being forced down the No. 4 shaft. The dust was blown into the air and dispersed widely in a particulate mist. At the same time, several railcars broke loose from the train and began rolling backwards down into the mine, derailed, and then hit a power line; this caused an arc which ignited the suspended coal dust. The resulting explosion, fueled by the additional oxygen, created a massive blast which levelled the bankhead on the surface. Heroic draegermen (rescue miners) and barefaced miners (no breathing equipment) entered the mine immediately and were able to rescue 88 miners; another 39, however, were beyond rescue and died in the explosion.
  • October 23rd, 1958: Springhill Mine Disasters, also known as the 1958 bump, was the most severe "bump" (underground earthquake) in North American mining history. No. 2 colliery was one of the deepest coal mines in the world. Sloping shafts 14,200 feet (4,300 m) in length led to a vast labyrinth of galleries more than 4,000 feet (1,200 m) below the surface. Of the 174 miners working in No.2 Colliery at the time of the bump, 100 were trapped and later rescued; 74 were killed.
  • January 21st, 1960: Coalbrook mining disaster The worst mining disaster in South Africa occurred in the Coalbrook coal mine of Clydesdale Colliery on 21 January 1960 at around 19:00 when cave in occurred about 180 metres underground. About 1 000 miners were in the mine at the time and 435 were trapped.
  • May 09th, 1960: Laobaidong colliery coal dust explosion located near Datong in the Shanxi province of China. The accident was caused by methane explosion which killed 682 people. The Laobaidong coal mine disaster is the second deadliest in China after the Benxihu colliery disaster.
  • November 09th, 1963 : Mitsui Miike Coal Mine disaster , in Kyushu, Japan. 458 people were killed by the explosion or by carbon monoxide poisoning caused by the explosion. 839 others were injured by the blast or carbon monoxide poisoning. Many of the poisoned survivors suffered severe, permanent brain damage.
  • May 17th, 1965: Cambrian Colliery disaster, in Clydach Vale (Welsh: Cwmclydach and adjoining Blaenclydach) is a village adjoining Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the Rhondda Valley, Wales. An explosion caused by firedamp, after poor ventilation allowed a build-up of flammable gas, killed 31 miners. The ignition point was later identified as an electric arc on an open switch-panel which was being worked on. This was the last major mining disaster in South Wales history.
  • May 28th, 1965 : Dhanbad coal mine disaster , in Jharkhand, India. An explosion in Dhori colliery near Dhanbad, which led to fire in the mines. The fire killed 268 miners. Dhori colliery is located near Bermo.
  • October 21st, 1966 : Aberfan disaster , was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil-tip that occurred in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killing 116 children and 28 adults. It was caused by a build-up of water in the accumulated rock and shale, which suddenly started to slide downhill in the form of slurry.
  • November 20th, 1968 : Farmington Mine Disaster , in Farmington, West Virginia, USA. 78 workers died. As a result of the disaster, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969.
  • June 06th, 1972 : Wankie coal mine disaster , it took place when a series of underground explosions occurred at the Wankie No.2 colliery in Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe). With 426 fatalities, it remains the deadliest mine accident to date in the country's history.
  • March 21st, 1973 : Lofthouse Colliery disaster , in West Yorkshire, England. The sudden inrush of three million gallons of water trapped seven mine workers 750 feet (228.6 metres) below ground. A six-day rescue operation was carried out but succeeded in recovering only one body.
  • December 27th, 1975 : Chasnala mining disaster , a coal mine in Chasnala near Dhanbad in the Indian state of Jharkhand. An explosion in the mine followed by flooding killed 372 miners.
  • July 19th, 1985 : Val di Stava dam collapse , it took place in the village of Stava, near Tesero, Italy, when two tailings dams used for sedimenting the mud from the nearby Prestavel mine, failed. It resulted in one of Italy's worst disasters, killing 268 people, destroying 63 buildings and demolishing eight bridges.
  • September 16th, 1986 : Kinross mining disaster , an underground fire started by an acetylene tank caused the death of 177 miners on 16 September 1986. Another 235 miners were injured in the incident, one of the largest mining incidents in South Africa.
  • May 09th, 1992 : Westray Mine Disaster , a coal mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. 26 killed in a methane and coal dust explosion.
  • May 09th, 1993 : Nambija mine disaster , was a landslide which occurred in a remote mining settlement in the southeastern part of Ecuador. A part of the mountain above the countless mines gave way and buried about 300 people. A definite number will never be known, since there are no records about the number of people living or working in Nambija.
  • May 10th, 1995 : Vaal Reefs Tragedy , it is a town in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality in the North West province of South Africa. when a locomotive fell into a lift shaft at the edge of 56 level (1,676 m below surface), landing on the cage and causing it to plunge 1,500 feet (460 m) to the bottom of the shaft (2,300 m below surface). It was history's worst ever elevator disaster, resulted in the death of 104 miners.
• 21st century
  • January 30th, 2000: Baia Mare cyanide spill, was a leak of cyanide near Baia Mare, Romania, into the Someş River by the gold mining company Aurul, a joint-venture of the Australian company Esmeralda Exploration and the Romanian government.
    The polluted waters eventually reached the Tisza and then the Danube, killing large numbers of fish in Hungary and Yugoslavia. The spill has been called the worst environmental disaster in Europe since the Chernobyl disaster.
  • September 23rd, 2001: Walter Energy mine disaster, at approximately 5:15 p.m., at the Jim Walter Resources No. 5 coal mine in Brookwood, 40 miles southwest of Birmingham, a cave-in caused a release of methane gas that sparked two major explosions, killing thirteen miners.
  • January 23rd, 2002: La Espuela Coal Mine disaster, happened at 1:30 p.m. January 23, 2002, and caused the death of 13 miners. The disaster was caused by flooding of the shaft. Without the ability to flee, the miners drowned in minutes.
  • July 24th to 28th, 2002: Quecreek Mine accident, in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, when nine miners were trapped underground for over 77 hours, from July 24 to 28, 2002. All nine miners were rescued.
  • February 14th, 2005: Sunjiawan mine disaster, in Fuxin city, Liaoning province, in the northeastern part of the People's Republic of China. Initial reports indicated that at least 214 coal miners were killed, making it the worst mining disaster in China in at least 15 years. The disaster was a gas explosion that occurred about 3:50 p.m. local time at the Sunjiawan colliery of the Fuxin Coal Industry Group in the city of Fuxin, about 242m (794 feet) underground. Twenty-two people were injured. The explosion reportedly occurred about ten minutes after an earthquake shook the mine.
  • January 02nd, 2006: Sago Mine disaster, was a coal mine explosion, in the Sago Mine in Sago, in Upshur County, West Virginia, USA, near the county seat of Buckhannon. The blast and collapse trapped 13 miners for nearly two days. One of the 13 trapped miners survived. It was the worst mining disaster in the United States since the Jim Walter Resources Mine.
  • January 19th, 2006: Aracoma Alma Mine accident, occurred when a conveyor belt in the Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1 at Melville in Logan County, West Virginia, caught fire. The conveyor belt ignited on the morning of January 19, pouring smoke through the gaps in the wall and into the fresh air passageway that the miners were supposed to use for their escape, obscuring their vision and ultimately leading to the death of two of them. The two men, Ellery Hatfield, 47 and Don Bragg, 33, died of carbon monoxide poisoning when they became separated from 10 other members of their crew. The others held hands and edged through the air intake amid dense smoke.
  • January 20th, 2006: Copiapó mining accident, An explosion occurred in the underground Carola-Agustina copper mine in Copiapó, Chile after two trucks collided, covering the only escape route for the miners inside the mine. The explosion caused two deaths and two injuries. 70 miners were trapped. Rescue efforts lasted seven hours, and the trapped miners were rescued alive.
  • February 19th, 2006: Pasta de Conchos mine disaster, was a methane explosion within a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, San Juan de Sabinas municipality, in the Mexican state of Coahuila. It was estimated that 65 miners, who were working the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift that morning, were trapped underground by the explosion. Only 2 of the 65 bodies were recovered.
  • April 25th, 2006: Beaconsfield Mine collapse, in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia. Of the seventeen people who were in the mine at the time, fourteen escaped immediately following the collapse, one was killed and the remaining two were found alive using a remote-controlled device. These two miners were rescued on 9 May 2006, two weeks after being trapped nearly a kilometre below the surface.
  • May 17th, 2006: Sullivan Mine accident, located in Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada. On May 17, 2006, it was announced that four people died in an accident at the decommissioned mine. Douglas Erickson, a contractor who was doing routine water sampling, was overcome by lack of oxygen. Two days later, after being reported missing, he was found by Teck Cominco employee Robert Newcombe, who was able to dial 9-1-1 before also succumbing to the oxygen depleted atmosphere. The two paramedics that responded, Kim Weitzel and Shawn Currier, also died in the oxygen-deprived atmosphere of the shed. The bodies were recovered by firefighters equipped with oxygen masks. It was not any kind of poisoning which the victims succumbed to, but suffocation in an environment completely devoid of oxygen, in an archetypal confined space accident.
  • May 23rd, 2006: Darby Mine No. 1 disaster, in Harlan County, Kentucky, USA. It killed five miners and left one survivor. Investigator thinks methane to blame for Darby mine explosion.
  • November 13th, 2006: Nanshan Colliery disaster, was a fatal gas explosion that occurred on November 13, 2006 at the Nanshan Colliery in Lingshi County, Jinzhong, Shanxi Province, China. Twenty-four people were killed.
  • November 21st, 2006: Halemba Coal Mine disaster, in the Halemba Coal Mine, Ruda Śląska, Poland. An explosion of methane and coal dust resulted in 23 fatalities. It was one of the largest mining disasters in Poland.
  • March 19th, 2007: Ulyanovskaya Mine disaster, was caused by a methane explosion that occurred in the Ulyanovskaya longwall coal mine in the Kemerovo Oblast. At least 108 people were reported to have been killed by the blast, which occurred at a depth of about 270 meters (885 feet) at 10:19 local time (3:19 GMT). The mine disaster was Russia's deadliest in more than a decade.
  • May 24th, 2007: Yubileynaya mine, is a coal mine in the Kemerovo Oblast area of Siberia, Russia. A methane explosion at the mine killed 38 miners and injured a further 7, one of whom subsequently died. Investigators believe that the explosion was caused by a spark from a damaged cable.
  • August 06h, 2007: Crandall Canyon Mine accident, formerly Genwal Mine, was an underground bituminous coal mine in northwestern Emery County, Utah. The mine collapsed, trapping six workers
  • August 17th, 2007: Shandong coal mine flood, in Xintai, Shandong, People's Republic of China, when heavy rain caused a river to burst a levee creating a flood into two mine shafts. By 8:50 am (1:50GMT), the mine was inundated underwater. 172 miners were trapped in a 3,000-foot-deep mine shaft. Nine others were also missing, in a nearby mine run by a different company. None of the 181 miners, living or dead, were recovered from the two mines after the accident. The workers were believed to be approximately 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the mine entrance and 1500 feet (457 m) underground. Seismic waves from the "coal mine bump" (collapse) were reported as magnitude 3.9 to 4.0 by seismograph stations in Utah and Nevada. Initial reports questioned whether the collapse was triggered by an earthquake, but overwhelming evidence has led researchers to believe the seismic waves were caused by the collapse. Additional seismic activities were recorded in the days following the event.
  • November 18th, 2007: Zasyadko mine disaster, at the Zasyadko coal mine in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. 101 miners were dead, the worst accident in Ukraine’s history. At the time of the explosion, 457 miners were in the complex. The accident was caused by a methane explosion located more than 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) below ground level.
  • June 08th, 2008: Karl Marx Coal Mine collapse (Ukraine coal mine collapse), in the city of Yenakiieve, Donetsk Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. The mine collapse was said to have been caused by a gas pipe explosion.[1][2] The explosion occurred at a depth of about 1,750 feet (533 m). 37 miners were trapped underground at the time of the collapse, located 3,301 feet (1,006 m) below the surface of the earth. Additionally, five surface workers suffered from burns and other injuries in a blast that they described as one of the most powerful in the industry. On June 9, it was announced that 22 more miners, who had been waiting for 30 hours, were rescued by the crews, while 13 remained buried.
  • September 08th, 2008: Shanxi mudslide, was caused by the collapse of an unlicensed mine landfill in Xiangfen county, Linfen, Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China which caused 277 dead, 4 missing and 33 injured. Around 8:00 a.m., the retaining wall of a waste iron ore reservoir collapsed after torrential rain, causing a major mudslide which inundated a village and crowded marketplace.
  • November 15th, 2008: Petrila Mine disaster, 12 miners died after two explosions at a mine in Petrila, one of six coal mining cities in the Jiu Valley region of Hunedoara County, Romania. On November 24 another miner died at Floreasca Hospital in Bucharest raising the death toll to 13. Mine officials said the explosions were believed to have been caused by an accumulation of methane gas.
  • February 21st, 2009: Shanxi mine blast, in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province of China. A pre-dawn explosion occurred at 2:17 a.m. (CST) as 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine working at that time. Rescue efforts concluded at 6 p.m. (CST), February 22 with all trapped miners located; the death toll was 74, with 114 in the hospital and five in critical condition. Many of the injured were being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. The death toll indicates that this is the most lethal accident reported in China's mining industry since December 2007, when 105 people died in a mine explosion—that accident also took place in Shanxi.
  • May 18th, 2009: Harmony Gold mine deaths, the third largest gold mining company in South Africa, the 12th largest in the world (2009) and the 5th largest gold producer in the world. At least 82 miners, many from Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, died from inhalation of poisonous gasses created by a fire in the mineshaft.
  • May 30th, 2009: Chongqing mine blast, was a gas explosion that occurred at a coal mine in southwestern China in Qijiang County, Chongqing, China. 131 miners were working underground. The death toll reached 30 people according to state media with 101 miners rescued of whom 59 were injured.
  • August 10th, 2009: Handlová mine blast, occurred roughly 330 metres (1,080 ft) underground in Trencin Region, Slovakia at Hornonitrianske Bane Prievidza, coal mine located in the town of Handlová. 20 people were killed, nine others suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment. Some historians have called the disaster the largest mining tragedy in Slovakia’s history. The deadly explosion, probably caused by flammable gases, occurred after mine rescuers had earlier been deployed to extinguish a fire in the Eastern shaft of the mine.
  • September 18th, 2009: Wujek-Śląsk mine blast, occurred at the Wujek-Śląsk bituminous coal mine in Ruda Śląska, Poland. At least 20 miners were killed (12 died in coal mine, 8 in hospitals) and at least 37 more were hospitalised. It is the country's deadliest mining accident since the deaths of 23 miners from methane at the Silesia's Halemba mine in November 2006.
  • September 08th, 2009: Henan mine disaster, in Pingdingshan city, in Henan province in China. The gas explosion took place around 1 a.m. Tuesday in the Xinhua No.4 pit in Xinhua District of Pingdingshan City. 93 men were working underground, of which 14 managed to escape to safety. Initial report said 35 were confirmed dead and 44 were missing. On 9 September, the death toll rose to 44, while 35 were still missing. On 27 September, the total death toll was confirmed 67, while 9 people remained missing.
  • November 12th, 2009: Dompoase mine collapse, a collapse occurred in an illegal, privately owned gold mine in Dompoase, Ashanti Region, Ghana. Up to 30 miners were prospecting the mine when it collapsed because of a landslide. At least 18 workers were killed in the collapse, including 14 women and the owner of the mine. Officials have described the disaster as the worst mine collapse in Ghanaian history.
  • November 21st, 2009: Heilongjiang mine explosion, near Hegang in Heilongjiang province, northeastern China. 108 people were confirmed dead. A further 29 were hospitalised. The explosion occurred in the Xinxing coal mine shortly before dawn, at 02:30 CST, when 528 people were believed to be in the pit. Of these, 420 are believed to have been rescued. The explosion was caused by trapped, pressurised gases underground, caused by poor ventilation in the mine shaft. The blast was powerful enough that it was felt six miles away.
  • April 05th, 2010: Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, in West Virginia, United States. An explosion occurred in Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal. Twenty-nine out of thirty-one miners at the site were killed.
  • August 05th, 2010: Copiapó mining accident, also known then as the "Chilean mining accident", began in the afternoon of Thursday, 5 August 2010 as a significant cave-in at the troubled 121-year-old San José copper–gold mine. The mine is located in the Atacama Desert about 45 kilometers (28 mi) north of the regional capital of Copiapó, in northern Chile. When the cave-in occurred there were two groups of workers in the mine. The group nearest the entrance escaped immediately without incident. A second group of 33 men was deep inside the mine, later rescued.
  • November 19th, 2010: Pike River Mine disaster, in New Zealand. At 3:45pm, the coal mine exploded. Twenty-nine men underground died immediately, or shortly afterwards, from the blast or from the toxic atmosphere. Two men in the stone drift, some distance from the mine workings, managed to escape. (Extract from Royal Commission of Enquiry Report on Pike River.)
  • July 29th, 2011: Sukhodilska–Skhidna coal mine, is a large underground coal mine located in Southeast Ukraine in Luhansk Oblast. Shortly before 2 a.m. an explosion occurred 3,000 feet (915 meters) underground in the mine. Initial reports indicated that at least 17 people were killed and nine others were missing, but later all 26 were reported to have died.
  • July 29th, 2011: Bazhanov coal mine, is a large coal mine located in southeastern Ukraine in Donetsk Oblast, in the industrial city of Makiivka. An elevator collapse killed 11 miners and seriously injured four others. Hundreds of workers were evacuated from other areas of the mine.
  • September 15th, 2011: Gleision Colliery mining accident, a drift mine at Cilybebyll in Neath Port Talbot, in Wales. The accident occurred while seven miners were working with explosives on a narrow coal seam. Following an initial explosion the tunnel in which the miners were working began to fill with water. Three of the miners escaped, with one being taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, while the others were trapped underground.
  • August 29th, 2012: Xiaojiawan coal mine disaster, located in Panzhihua in Sichuan Province, China. As a result of a gas explosion in the Xiaojiawan coal mine, at least 45 miners were killed and 1 was still missing as of September 2.
  • March 12th, 2013: Machang Coal Mine outburst, occurred in Machang Coal Mine in Shuicheng County, Guizhou, China. A total of 25 people lost their lives in the accident. At the time of the coal and gas outburst, there were 83 workers working undergroung, and 58 of them managed to leave safely.
  • March 28th, 2013: Gyama Mine landslide,in Maizhokunggar County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The landslide was about 3 km long and between 20 m and 50 m thick, with a volume of about 2 million cubic meters. As of April 5, 66 bodies were found out of the 83 people trapped.
  • March 29th & April 01st, 2013: Babao Coal Mine explosions,in Jiangyuan District of the Baishan City, Jilin, China. A total of 53 people lost their lives in the explosions.
  • May 11th, 2013: Taozigou Coal Mine explosion, occurred in the Taozigou Coal Mine in Hua'an Village, Fuji Town of the Lu County, Sichuan, China. A total of 28 people lost their lives in the explosion. It was reported that the explosion was a result of illegal mining.
  • May 13th, 2014: Soma mine disaster, took place in Soma, Turkey. The accident, called the worst mining accident ever in Turkey, and it is the worst mining accident in the 21st century so far. 301 people died.
  • August 04th, 2014: Mount Polley mine disaster, is an environmental disaster in the Cariboo region of central British Columbia, Canada, that began 4 August 2014 with a breach of the Imperial Metals-owned Mount Polley copper and gold mine tailings pond, releasing its water and slurry with years worth of mining waste into Polley Lake. The spill flooded Polley Lake, its outflow Hazeltine Creek, and continued into nearby Quesnel Lake and Cariboo Creek.
  • September 04th, 2014: Zenica mine disaster, it occurred at a coal mine "Raspotočje" in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. After a 3.5 Richter earthquake hit Zenica on 4 September 2014 caused rock burst in coal mine "Raspotočje", 34 miners remained trapped inside the mine. All miners were trapped more than 500 meters below the surface, but were provided with fresh air. Out of 34 miners that were trapped inside the mine, 5 were killed, while the remaining 29 were slightly injured.
  • October 28th, 2014: Ermenek mine accident, 8 miners were trapped underground in the Has Sekerler mine, a coal mine in the Turkish town of Ermenek. It is the second major accident at a Turkish mine in six months; the previous one was the Soma mine disaster in May 2014.
  • March 04th, 2015: Zasyadko mine disaster, at around 05:20 local time, there was a mining accident at the Zasyadko coal mine in rebel-held Eastern Ukraine. It is suspected to have been caused by a gas explosion.Twenty-three people were confirmed dead. Local rebels claimed a death toll of 30. There were 230 people in the mine at the time of the explosion.
  • August 05th, 2015: Gold King Mine waste water spill, is a 2015 environmental disaster at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado. EPA personnel along with workers for Environmental Restoration LLC (a Fenton, Missouri, company under EPA contract to mitigate pollutants from the closed mine) caused the spill when trying to add a tap to the tailing pond for the mine.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/

Accidents by country

• Australia
  • The Bulli Mine Disaster of 23 March 1887 involved a gas explosion in the mine that killed 81 men and boys, leaving 50 women widows and 150 children without fathers.
     
    The Mount Kembla Mine Disaster of 31 July 1902 was an explosion resulting in the death of 96 miners, including two engaged in rescue work. It remains the worst mining disaster in Australian history.
     
    An explosion at the Mount Mulligan mine on 19 September 1921 killed 75 workers. Only 11 bodies could be recovered.
     
    Tasmania's Beaconsfield Mine collapse occurred on 25 April 2006. Of the 17 people who were in the mine at the time, 14 escaped immediately following the collapse, one was killed and the remaining two were found alive after five days. The survivors were trapped in a 1.5m x 1.2m cherry picker cage, which had saved them from being crushed by rocks. As it was not safe for rescuers to blast their way through, a special borer was brought in to drill an escape shaft. They were finally released on 9 May after 14 days underground.
     
    Three mining disasters occurred at Moura in a 20-year period. The first of these was in 1975, at the Kianga Mine, where 13 men died in an underground explosion. The mine was sealed without their bodies being retrieved. In 1986 a second disaster occurred, as an underground explosion, which took the lives of 12 miners. The bodies of all those persons were retrieved. In Moura on 7 August 1994 a third major mining accident occurred with an explosion at Moura No. 2 Mine. A second explosion at the mine approximately a day and a half later saw rescue attempts abandoned, and the mine was sealed, with the bodies of the 11 miners unretrieved.
     
    Four miners were killed at an Incident at the Northparkes mine outside the New South Wales town of Parkes in 1999.
• Belgium
  • On March 4, 1887, 120 miners died in a coal mine in La Boule, Borinage due to a methane explosion.
     
    On the morning of August 8, 1956, a fire in the mine Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle caused 262 victims, with only 12 survivors. A mining cart on an elevator cage hit an oil pipe and electricity lines, with the resulting fire trapping the miners. Most of the victims were immigrants (136 Italians, 8 Poles, 6 Greeks, 5 Germans, 5 Frenchmen, 3 Hungarians, 1 Englishman, 1 Dutchman, 1 Russian and 1 Ukrainian.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • On September 4, 2014, after a 3.5 Richter earthquake hit Zenica caused rock burst in coal mine "Raspotočje", 34 miners remained trapped inside the mine. It was later reported that 5 miners were killed in the accident.
• Canada
  • The most well-known mining accidents in Canada have all occurred within the province of Nova Scotia. The most serious of them was a series of three coal mining disasters spanning 65 years referred to collectively as the Springhill mining disasters, which claimed in total at least 138 lives of men and boys due to coal dust explosions. The Westray Mine disaster in 1992 claimed the lives of 26 miners in a methane/coal dust explosion at a recently opened mining operation. Both of these mines were subsequently permanently closed in the wake of these events.
     
    The 1887 Nanaimo mine explosion in Nanaimo, British Columbia killed 150 miners at the No 1 Esplanade Mine. Explosives were laid improperly triggering a massive mine-wide explosion. Most miners were killed instantly, only 7 survived. Of the 150 workers killed, 53 of them were Chinese, the names of which are mostly unknown.
     
    The Hillcrest mine disaster, the worst coal mining disaster of Canadian history, occurred in Alberta in 1914. Deaths from the methane and coal dust-fueled explosion numbered 189; news coverage was eclipsed by the First World War. The mine remained in use until 1939.
• Central African Republic
  • In June 2013, heavy rains provoked the collapse of a gold mine in Ndassima, killing 37 miners and injuring many others.
• Chile
  • In June 1945, during a fire, 355 workers died in El Teniente by inhaling carbon monoxide, in what was called the "Tragedia del Humo" (English: The Smoke Tragedy).
     
    In January 2006, an explosion occurred in a mine in Copiapó, leaving 70 miners trapped underground. The miners were rescued after a brief period of time, but two people died.
     
    In August 2010, 33 miners were trapped underground in Copiapó. After two weeks communication was made with them but it was said at least four more months would pass before they could be rescued, though essential services could still be provided. The rescues began on October 12, 2010 and all the 33 miners were rescued within 22 hours of first rescue. The world watched and cheered.
• China
  • According to one source, in 2003 China accounted for the largest number of coal-mining fatalities, accounting for about 80% of the world’s total, although it produced only 35% of the world’s coal.[18] Between January 2001 and October 2004, there were 188 accidents that had a death toll of more than 10, about one such accident every 7.4 days. After the 2005 Sunjiawan mine disaster, which killed at least 210 miners, a meeting of the State Council was convened to work on measures to improve work safety in coal mines. The meeting's statement indicated serious problems such as violation of safety standards and overproduction in some coal mines. Three billion yuan (360 million US dollars) were dedicated for technological renovation on work safety, gas management in particular, at state-owned major coal mines. The government also promised to send safety supervision teams to 45 coal mines with serious gas problems and invite colliery safety experts to evaluate safety situations in coal mines and formulate prevention measures.
     
    In 2006, according to the State Work Safety Supervision Administration, 4,749 Chinese coal miners were killed in thousands of blasts, floods, and other accidents. For example, a gas explosion at the Nanshan Colliery killed 24 people on November 13, 2006; the mine was operating without any safety license and the Xinhua News Agency claimed the cause was incorrect usage of explosives. However, the 2006 rate was 20.1% less than 2005 despite an 8.1% increase in production.
     
    The New York Times reported that China's lack of a free press, independent trade unions, citizen watchdog groups and other checks of official power has made cover-ups of mining accidents more possible, even in the Internet age. As a result, Chinese bureaucrats habitually hide scandals (such as mine disasters, chemical spills, the 2003 SARS epidemic, and tainted milk powder) for fear of being held accountable by the ruling Communist Party or exposing their own illicit deals with companies involved. Under China’s authoritarian system, superiors reward subordinates for strict compliance with goals established by authorities, like reducing mine disasters. Indeed, should a mining accident occur, the incentive to hide it is often stronger than the reward for managing it well, as any disaster is almost surely considered a liability.
     
    In November 2009, a mining accident in Heilongjiang killed at least 104 people. It is thought to have been caused by a methane explosion followed by a coal dust explosion. Three top officials involved with the mining company were promptly dismissed.
     
    On August 30, 2012 an explosion killed 45 people at the Xiaojiawan coal mine in Sichuan province. A few days later on September 3, 2012 14 miners were killed at Gaokeng Coal Mine in Jiangxi province.
     
    On March 29, 2013, a landslide trapped 83 people in the Gyama Mine in Tibet.
     
    On 4 January 2014 The Chinese Government stated that 1,049 people died in the year 2013, down 24 percent from 2012.
• Ecuador
  • About 300 people were killed on May 9, 1993 in the Nambija mine disaster in Ecuador.
     
    On October 15, 2010, shortly after Chile completed its historic, successful rescue of 33 miners who had been stuck underground in the San Jose mine for a record period of nearly 10 weeks, four workers were trapped in an Ecuadoran gold mine following a tunnel collapse. All were confirmed dead by October 20.
• France
  • The Courrières mine disaster was the worst ever pit mine disaster in Europe. It caused the death of 1,099 miners (including many children) in Northern France on 10 March 1906. It seems that this disaster was surpassed only by the Benxihu Colliery accident in China on April 26, 1942, which killed 1,549 miners. A dust explosion, the cause of which is not known with certainty, devastated a coal mine operated by the Compagnie des mines de houille de Courrières (founded in 1852) between the villages of Méricourt (404 killed), Sallaumines (304 killed), Billy-Montigny (114 killed), and Noyelles-sous-Lens (102 killed) about two kilometres (one mile) to the east of Lens, in the Pas-de-Calais département (about 220 km, or 140 miles, north of Paris).
     
    A large explosion was heard shortly after 06:30 on the morning of Saturday 10 March 1906. An elevator cage at Shaft 3 was thrown to the surface, damaging pit-head workings; windows and roofs were blown out on the surface at Shaft 4; an elevator cage raised at Shaft 2 contained only dead and unconscious miners.
• Japan
  • Mine disaster of a number occurs from the 1900s to 1980s in Japan, with introduce only large-scale disaster.
    • - Hokkaido
      • -- New Yubari Coal Mine accident, November 1914, 423 fatalities.
      • -- New Yubari Coal Mine accident, November 1914, 423 Hokutan Yubari,
        • --- April 1912 accident, 276 fatalities.
        • --- December 1912 accident, 216 fatalities.
        • December 1938 accident, 161 fatalities.
        • --- October 1981 accident 93 fatalities.
      • -- South Yubari Coal mine accident, May 1985, 62 fatalities.
      • -- Bibai coal mine ,
        • --- March 1941 accident, 177 fatalities.
        • --- May 1944 accident, 109 fatalities.
    • - Honshu
      • -- Uchigo coal mine caught fire accident on March 1927, 134 fatalities in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture
      • -- East Mizome coal mine seawater inflow accident on April 1915, 235 fatalities in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture
      • -- Chosei coal mine submerged cave accident on February 1942, 183 fatalities in Ube.
    • - Kyushu
      • -- Hojo coal mine explosion on December 1914, 687 fatalities in Miyata, Fukuoka.
      • -- Hokoku coal mine accidents in Itoda, Fukuoka Prefecture.
        • --- June 1899 accident, 213 fatalities.
        • --- July 1907 accident, 365 fatalities.
      • -- Onoura coal mine accidents in Miyata, Fukuoka Prefecture.
        • --- November 1909 accident, 243 fatalities.
        • --- December 1918 accident, 376 fatalities.
        • --- January 1939 accident, 94 fatalities.
      • -- 1965 Yamano coal mine accident on June in Maka, Fukuoka, 237 fatalities.
      • -- 1906 Takashima coal mine explosion on March, 307 fatalities in Nagasaki.
• Netherlands
  • The twelve mines in the Netherlands, four of which were state owned, were considered among the safest in the world, with only three larger accidents occurring during 70 years of mining:
    • - On 13 July 1928 a methane gas explosion killed 13 miners in the state-owned mine Hendrik in Brunssum.
    • - On 24 March 1947 13 miners from Staatsmijn Hendrik were killed in a fire caused by an overheated conveyor belt.
    • - On 3 March 1958 7 miners lost their lives when a cave-in occurred at Staatsmijn Maurits in Geleen.
• New Zealand
  • The most notable mining accident in New Zealand is the 1896 Brunner Mine disaster, which killed all 65 miners inside. On 19 November 2010, there were four explosions over nine days at Pike River mine; 29 miners were killed and two escaped with minor injuries.
     
    On 19 January 1967, there was an explosion in the Strongman Mine, near Greymouth, on the West Coast. 19 people were killed.
• Poland
  • On November 25, 2006, the worst mining disaster occurred in modern Polish history, 23 miners lost their lives at Halemba Coal Mine, a colliery in the town of Ruda Slaska in the southern industrial province of Silesia. A methane explosion at a depth of 1,030 meters caused the November 21 tragedy. The miners were attempting to retrieve €17 million ($US22 million) worth of equipment from a tunnel when a blast caused the shaft to collapse. The tunnel was supposed to have been closed in March due to dangerously high methane concentrations, but was kept active because of the value of the equipment left behind.
• Russia
  • Several major mining accidents have happened in Russia, particularly the Ulyanovskaya Mine disaster of 2007, which killed at least 106 miners. On January 20, 2013, at least four miners have died and four more are missing following an accident at a Russian coal mine. The accident happened at a coal mine in the Kuznetsk Basin region of Russia, in western Siberia.
• South Africa
  • A number of major mining accidents happened in South Africa including the following accidents:
    • - 437 deaths on 21 January 1960 the Coalbrook mining disaster occurred at Coalbrook North colliery. Coalbrook North colliery was one of the underground collieries of Clydesdale (Transvaal) Collieries Limited and was situated near Sasolburg in the Orange Free State province.
    • - 177 killed on 16 September 1986 at the Kinross gold mine in Evander, Mpumalanga. This is still the world's worst metal mining disaster.
    • - 64 deaths on 12 September 1983 at Hlobane Colliery near Vryheid, Kwa-Zulu Natal
    • - 57 deaths on 12 September 1944 at Hlobane Colliery near Vryheid, Kwa-Zulu Natal
    • - 53 deaths on 13 May 1993 at Middelbult colliery. Middelbult colliery was and is still one of the underground collieries of Sasol Mining situated near the town of Secunda, Mpumalanga
• Taiwan
  • The three worst mining accidents in Taiwan all happened in 1984:
    • - On June 20, 1984, in Haishan Coal Mine in Tucheng District, a runaway mining cart struck a high voltage transformer and triggered an explosion. 72 miners died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
    • - On July 10, 1984, 103 miners died in Meishan Coal Mine in Ruifang District as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a fire started in the air compressor chamber.
    • - On December 5, 1984, an explosion occurred at Haishan Coal Mine No. 1 in Sanxia District. 93 miners died from carbon monoxide poisoning with only one survival who was rescued 93 hours after the initial explosion.
• Tanzania
  • At least 56 miners were killed in April 1998 after heavy rains flooded tanzanite mine shafts. Five people were killed in July 2013 after the tanzanite quarry they were working in the Mererani mining hills collapsed above their heads. A sixth was admitted to hospital in critical condition.
• Turkey
  • In March 1983, in the Armutçuk coal mine 103 miners died due to a methane gas explosion.
     
    In March 1992 at the TCC Kozla mine, 263 miners were killed due to a firedamp explosion
     
    In 2008 there was another disaster which resulted in one person losing their life. In November 2013, 300 workers barricaded the Zonguldak mine in order to protest the working conditions.
     
    During the year of 2009, in December killed 19 miners due to a methane gas explosion in Bursa Province.
     
    In 2010, there was a mining disaster in Zonguldak Province which resulted in the deaths of 30 workers in a coal mine. The explosion was caused by a firedamp explosion. Previous mining disasters have also occurred here, one in 1992 resulted in the deaths of 270 workers. This was the worst mining disaster until the Soma mine disaster.
     
    In May 2014, in Soma, Manisa there was a major mine collapse caused by an explosion. More than 302 workers lost their lives in the collapse and at least 80 workers were injured.
     
    Unfortunately, in recent years the Turkish coal mining industry has been found to have the very worst safety record in the world, in terms of fatal accidents per million tons of coal produced. When using the "deaths per million tons of coal production" measure, on any given day, a Turkish coal miner is 360 times more likely to be killed in a Turkish mine than an American coal miner is in an American mine, and 5 times more likely to die from the lax mine safety standards of the Turkish mines than even a Chinese coal miner, whose country places with a distant second in terms of safety related deaths per million tons of coal produced.
• United Kingdom
  • England
    • In England, The Oaks explosion remains the worst mining accident, claiming 388 lives on 12 December 1866 near Barnsley in Yorkshire. The Hulton Colliery explosion at Westhoughton, Lancashire, in 1910 claimed the lives of 344 miners. An explosion in 1878, at the Wood Pit, Haydock, Lancashire, killed over 200 workers, although only 189 were included in the 'official list'. Another disaster that killed many miners was the Hartley Colliery Disaster, which occurred in January 1862 when the beam of the main steam winding engine broke suddenly and fell into the single shaft serving the pit. It blocked the shaft, and entombed hundreds of miners. The final death toll was 204, most of whom were suffocated by the lack of oxygen in the mine atmosphere.
       
      In the metalliferous mines of Cornwall, some of the worst accidents were at East Wheal Rose in 1846, where 39 workers were killed by a sudden flood; at Levant mine in 1919, where 31 were killed and many injured in a failure of the man engine; 12 killed at Wheal Agar in 1883 when a cage fell down a shaft; and seven killed at Dolcoath mine in 1893 when a large stull collapsed.
  • Scotland
    • The worst mining accident in Scotland is the 1877 Blantyre mining disaster in Blantyre, Lanarkshire, which claimed 207 lives. For several tense days in September 1950, another worst accident happened on the small Ayrshire mining village. The world paused with bated breath as rescuers battled bravely against all odds to reach the 129 men trapped deep underground when a field above where they were working caved-in, flooding the mine workings with thick liquid peat, cutting off all means of escape.
  • Wales
    • During the period 1850 to 1930 the South Wales coalfield had the worst disaster record. This was due to the increasing number of mines being sunk to greater depths into gas-containing strata, combined with poor safety and management practices. As a result there were nearly forty underground explosions in the Glamorgan and Monmouthshire areas of the coalfield during this time. Each accident resulted in the deaths of twenty or more workers - either directly in the explosion or by suffocation by the poisonous gases formed. The total death toll from these disasters was 3,119 people. The four worst accidents in Wales were:
      • - 439 deaths at the Senghenydd Colliery Disaster at Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, Glamorgan, in a gas explosion in 1913.
      • - 290 deaths at the Albion Colliery in Cilfynydd, Glamorgan, in a gas explosion on 25 June 1894.
      • - 272 deaths at the Prince of Wales Colliery, Abercarn, Monmouthshire, in an explosion of 11 September 1878.
      • - 266 deaths in the Gresford Disaster near Wrexham in North Wales on 22 September 1934.
      Some collieries, e.g. Morfa Colliery, near Port Talbot, Glamorgan, and Black Vein Colliery, Risca, Monmouthshire, suffered three disasters before they were closed for being unsafe.
• United States
  • The Monongah Mining Disaster was the worst mining accident of American history; 362 workers were killed in an underground explosion on December 6, 1907 in Monongah, West Virginia.
     
    From 1880 to 1910, mine accidents claimed thousands of fatalities. Where annual mining deaths had numbered more than 1,000 a year during the early part of the 20th century, they decreased to an average of about 500 during the late 1950s, and to 93 during the 1990s.[56] In addition to deaths, many thousands more are injured (an average of 21,351 injuries per year between 1991 and 1999), but overall there has been a downward trend of deaths and injuries.
     
    In 1959, the Knox Mine Disaster occurred in Port Griffith, Pennsylvania. The swelling Susquehanna river collapsed into a mine under it and resulted in 12 deaths. In Plymouth, Pennsylvania, the Avondale Mine Disaster of 1869 resulted in the deaths of 108 miners and two rescue workers after a fire in the only shaft eliminated the oxygen in the mine. Federal laws for mining safety resulted from this disaster. Pennsylvania suffered another disaster in 2002 at Quecreek, 9 miners were trapped underground and subsequently rescued after 78 hours. During 2006, 72 miners lost their lives at work, 47 by coal mining. The majority of these fatalities occurred in Kentucky and West Virginia, including the Sago Mine Disaster.[57][58] On April 5, 2010, in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster an underground explosion caused the deaths of 29 miners.
     
    The U.S. Bureau of Mines was created in 1910 to investigate accidents, advise industry, conduct production and safety research, and teach courses in accident prevention, first aid, and mine rescue. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Acts of 1969 and 1977 set further safety standards for the mining.
• Zimbabwe
  • The Wankie coal mine disaster in June 1972 was one of the worst ever mining disasters with 426 fatalities.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/