Death toll rises to 5 as search for 48 trapped miners in China's Inner Mongolia continues

UPDATE - CHANGE IN HL, DEATHS NUMBER RISES, RESCUE OPERATION, CHANGE NUMBER OF MISSING PEOPLE

ANKARA (AA) – Chinese authorities on Thursday retrieved two more bodies from a collapsed coal mine in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bringing the death toll to five, while the search for another 48 trapped miners continued, Chinese broadcaster CGTN reported..

Six rescued miners have been transferred to a hospital in Qingtongxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northwest China.

The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon in Alxa League town in Inner Mongolia, when a large section of the coal mine collapsed, according to the Global Times daily.

A video shows several workers and vehicles buried in the aftermath of the mine collapse.

About 300 fire and rescue personnel, 60 fire trucks, six rescue dogs, and experts from the region have already arrived at the site for a complex operation, according to the Global Times.

The collapse may have been caused by a landslide, the daily said, quoting an employee who added that approximately 600 miners were employed at the mine site.

According to another worker, the mine was very deep when the incident happened. When the mine collapsed, stones and ash rolled down, and the majority of those buried beneath are a digger and tip truck drivers, he added.

The mine was closed in 2012, but it was converted into an open-pit mine, and production resumed in April 2021.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid