“My condolences to President Xi”: PM Modi expresses grief over China’s deadliest coal mine disaster

Baljit Singh Brar

Baljit Singh Brar, Punjab Times Special

New Delhi, May 23

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed deep grief over the loss of lives caused by a deadly coal mine explosion in China’s Shanxi Province.

In a post on X, the Prime Minister extended his condo-lences to President Xi Jinping and prayed for the recovery of missing people. “Saddened by the loss of lives in a min-ing accident in Shanxi Province in China. On behalf of the people of India, my condolences to President Xi Jinping and the people of China,” PM Modi wrote. “May the bereaved families find strength in this tragic hour. Praying for the early and safe recovery of all remaining missing persons,” he added.

This diplomatic expression of solidarity from the Prime Minister comes in response to to a catastrophic gas explo-sion at the Liushenyu Coal Mine in the central Chinese province of Shanxi, which has claimed the lives of at least 90 people and sparked a massive emergency response. The South China Morning Post reported that 247 workers were under-ground when the disaster struck, and it remains uncer-tain whether additional per-sonnel are still trapped beneath the surface.

According to the state news agency Xinhua, the fatal gas blast ripped through the facility in Qinyuan county, situated roughly 520 km (320 miles) southwest of Beijing, occurring shortly after the mine’s systems triggered a carbon monoxide alert.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, law enforce-ment officials took decisive action against the mine’s management, with execu-tives from the company that ran the mine being detained, Xinhua added.

The immense scale of the tragedy highlights why it has drawn international atten-tion and prompted diplomat-ic empathy from PM Modi.

The catastrophic incident stands as China’s deadliest coal mine disaster in over a decade, proving that while internal safety protocols have seen measurable improvements in recent years, the industry continues to suffer from a steady stream of fatalities.

Reacting to the immense loss of life on the ground, President Xi Jinping called for rescuers to “make every effort” to locate survivors, emphasising that the exten-sive aftermath of the acci-dent must be “properly han-dled”. The Chinese President insisted that those responsi-ble for the accident should be held to account.

According to the South China Morning Post, he added, “All regions and departments must learn from the lessons of the accident, remain vigi-lant regarding workplace safety, thoroughly investi-gate, rectify all types of risks and hidden dangers, and res-olutely prevent and curb the occurrence of major and seri-ous accidents.” Fearing com-pounding environmental complications at the disaster site, Xi also said that due to the rainy season, flood pre-vention measures should be undertaken.