A second explosion at a gold mine in China’s Shandong province occurred on February 16. The blast has prompted a local government campaign to close all unsafe mining facilities.

The explosion happened at around 06:00 local time, during maintenance at the Caojiawa gold mine in the city of Zhaoyuan. China’s state news agency Xinhua reports that 10 miners were trapped by a fire following the explosion. Four miners managed to escape with injuries. All four were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The incident came just a month after another fatal blast in Shandong province, at the Hushan gold mine on January 10. This first incident saw 22 workers trapped 600 metres underground.

Eleven miners spent two weeks underground, they were lifted to safety on January 24. However, the total death toll was 10 with one miner still unaccounted for.

The two incidents have prompted Shandong’s Emergency Management Bureau to announce a comprehensive inspection programme until the end of March. The campaign will see the bureau inspect all non-coal mines in the province, in a measure to tackle safety risks.

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