Created Thu 8/12/2016, Last Updated Thu 8/12/2016

IndustriALL calls for urgent ILO action on deadly Chinese coal mines

IndustriALL Global Union has written to the International Labour Organization (ILO) urging it to intervene to improve safety in Chinese coal mines, following the deaths of 86 coal miners in a matter of weeks.

Thirty-two miners were reportedly killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine owned by the Baoma Mining Company in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region on 3 December. Twenty-one miners were killed in a coal mine blast in the city of Qitaihe in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang on 29 November, while a further thirty-three miners were killed in an explosion at a coal mine in the southwestern city of Chongqing on 31 October.

The fatalities come as pressure mounts on coal mines to increase output during wintertime.