Qixia gold mine accident

On January 10, at 2 p.m., an explosion occurred at a depth of 240 meters in the Yantai Qixia gold mine in the Shandong Province (China). There were no miners at this level, but 13 miners were present at a depth of 698 meters, and 9 miners at a depth of 648 meters. In total, 22 miners were trapped underground. The explosion severely damaged cages, ladders, and communication systems within the shafts. Because of an inadequate initial assessment of the rescue difficulties, the gold mine company did not report the situation to the Qixia Municipal Emergency Management Bureau until 8:05 pm on 11 January. On January 11, at 8:48 pm, the Qixia municipal committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reported the situation to the Yantai municipal committee of the CCP.[3][4]

At 21:45, after receiving the report, the Shandong Provincial Committee of the CCP initiated the Integrated Emergency Rescue Command of the provinces, cities and counties. It organised seven working groups for on-site rescue with the assistance of technical experts, logistics support, and media liaison. It also started to investigate the accident and organised the reception of miners' families. It prepared the medical treatment of the victims and took measurements for the prevention and the control of the coronavirus pandemic on site. Song Yuanming (宋元明) and Li Wanjiang (李万疆), deputy director of the State Mine Safety Supervision Bureau, were connected by video conference that night to guide the rescue effort.

On the morning of January 12, Liu Jiayi (刘家义), secretary of the CCP of Shandong Province, who was attending a seminar for leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial levels in Beijing, and Li Ganjie (李干杰), deputy secretary of the CCP provincial committee and governor of Shandong Province, asked CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping to rush to the scene of the Hushan gold mine accident in the Shandong province. Meanwhile, Huang Yuzhi (黄玉治), vice minister of emergency management of the People's Republic of China and head of the State Administration of Mine Safety and Supervision, arrived at the scene at noon on January 12 to guide the rescue. Wang Shujian (王书坚), executive vice-governor of the Shandong provincial government, arrived at the scene on the morning of January 12.[5]

On January 12, at 19:00, the on-site accident rescue command team held a second press conference. Yantai City Emergency Management Bureau Director Sun Shufu (孙树福) gave information on the latest progress of the rescue. On the one hand, accelerating the removal of debris obstructing the access in the ventilation shaft, on the other hand, speeding up the exploration borehole drilling operations, and opening a communication and life-supply channel with possible survivors.[6] At 12:00 on the 14th, the rescue site added 43 rescue teams. The emergency rescue command team mobilized a total of 11 rescue teams, 393 rescue workers, 70 machinery and mining equipment to participate in the accident rescue.[7]

On the afternoon of January 17, the 3rd life-saving hole was opened.[8] At about 22 o'clock in the evening, the rescue workers equipped the 3rd drilling as a feeding hole. By means of a weighted rope, they slowly descended vital supplies in the narrow borehole: flashlights, nutritive liquids, medicines, pens and papers. At about 10:46 pm on 17 January, the supplies were delivered to the bottom.[9] On 17 January, at about 23:40, rescuers pulled back the rope and found that all supplies had been removed and a note had been returned.[10]

At noon on January 19, the Health Emergency Office of the National Health and Health Commission led five national experts to the area to strengthen the rescue force. The national expert group consists of Beijing Xiehe Hospital, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital and Beijing Anding Hospital.[11]

On January 22, the Accident Emergency Rescue Command informed that search for life continued to be carried out at the 1st borehole 637 meters from the wellhead, but no sign of life was found. 3rd drilling well water stopping operations completed, 4th drilling on the power supply to achieve bottom lighting.[12]

On January 13, the third press conference of the rescue headquarters at the scene of the explosion at the Qixia Lushan gold mine in Shandong Province was held, and Li Bo (李波), deputy mayor of Yantai City, said at the press conference that the person responsible for the accident had been brought under control.[16] On January 13, Shandong Provincial Emergency Management Department issued a notice in the province to quickly carry out a centralized law enforcement inspection.[17]

Because of the important leadership responsibilities neglected in reporting the accident 30 hours late, the Shandong Provincial Committee of CCP decided to remove Yao Xiuxia (姚秀霞) from her post as party secretary of the CCP Qixia City Committee and remove Zhu Tao (朱涛) from his post as deputy secretary and mayor of the CCP Qixia City Committee to cooperate with the accident investigation.[18]

• 2010 Copiapó mining accident – Mine Collapse in Chile in 2010
• 2018 Shandong mine collapse – Collapse of a mining tunnel in the Shandong province in China
• Gold mining – Process of extracting gold from the ground
• Gold mining in China – Overview of gold mining in the People's Republic of China
• Mine rescue – Rescue of persons trapped after mining accidents
• Mining accident – Accident occurring during the process of mining minerals
• Qixia, Shandong – County-level city in Shandong, People's Republic of China
• Rescue – Operations for life saving, or in response to injuries after an accident