The cause of the accident is still under investigation. (Representative)
Beijing, China:
Sixteen workers have died and one is in critical condition after being trapped underground in a coal mine in southwest China on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
A treadmill caught fire in the early hours of the morning, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing the government, which produced dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.
Doctors are fighting to save the life of the last survivor, CCTV reported.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, the Qijiang District government said on social media platform Weibo.
The facility, Songzao Coal Mine, is owned by the state-owned Chongqing Energy company and is located just outside of Chongqing City.
Mining accidents are common in China, where the industry has a poor safety record and regulations are often weakly enforced.
At least 14 miners were killed in a coal and gas explosion last December at a mine in southwest Guizhou province.
In December 2018, seven miners were killed in Chongqing after the link segment of a dumpster broke and fell into a well.
In October of the same year, 21 miners died in eastern Shandong Province after pressure inside a mine caused rocks to fracture and rupture, blocking the tunnel and trapping workers. . Only one miner was saved alive.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
