On 22 May 2026, at 19:29 (CST), a gas explosion occurred at the Liushenyu Coal Mine in Qinyuan County, Shanxi Province, China, killing at least 82 people.
At the time of the explosion, 247 workers were on duty underground. By 6:00 CST on 23 May, according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, at least 201 people had been evacuated. Later that day, 9 people remained missing. General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping called for an immediate rescue of trapped workers and for an investigation into the cause of the explosion. Xinhua News Agency reported on the 23rd of May that executives of the Shanxi Tongzhou Group Liushenyu Coal Industry, which operates the Liushenyu mine, had been detained.
As of 25 May, both rescue operations and investigations into the explosion's cause remained ongoing.