World’s worst coal mine disasters

ISTANBUL

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Here is a list of the 10 worst coal mine disasters around the world.

1. In 1942, a coal-dust explosion killed a full third of the workers, 1,549 people, on duty at the Honkeiko coal mine in the Liaoning province of northeastern China.

2. In 1906, an explosion at a coal mine in northern France, also known as the “Courrières mine disaster,” killed 1,099 people, including many children.

3. In 1914, a gas explosion at the Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine in Japan killed 687 people, the deadliest mine accident in Japan’s history.

4. In 1960, 684 miners were killed in the Laobaidong coal mine in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi.

5. In 1963, a coal mine explosion at the Mitsui Miike coal mine in Japan killed 458 miners, while 833 others were injured.

6. In 1913, in southern Wales, a coal dust explosion killed 439 miners at the Senghenydd Colliery, which was the worst mining tragedy in the United Kingdom.

7. In 1960, 435 miners were killed in South Africa’s Coalbrook mine disaster, the country’s worst disaster in its mining history.

8. In 1972, multiple explosions in the underground coal mine in Wankie Colliery in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) killed 426 people.

9. In 1866, 388 people were killed in Oaks Colliery explosion near Barnsley in Yorkshire, the second deadliest coal mining disaster in the United Kingdom after the disaster at Senghenydd Colliery.

10. In 1965, Dhanbad coal mine disaster in Jharkhand, India killed 375 miners.