   a mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals. thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining. most of the deaths nowadays occur in developing countries, especially china and rural parts of developed countries. mining accidents can have a variety of causes, including leaks of poisonous gases such as hydrogen sulfidekucuker h. "occupational fatalities among coal mine workers in zonguldak, turkey, 1994â2003". occup med (lond) 2006 mar;56(2):144-6. pmid 16490795 or explosive natural gases, especially firedamp or methane,terazawa k, takatori t, tomii s, nakano k. methane asphyxia. coal mine accident investigation of distribution of gas. am j forensic med pathol. 1985 sep;6(3):211-4. pmid 3870672 dust explosions, collapsing of mine stopes, mining-induced seismicity, flooding, or general mechanical errors from improperly used or malfunctioning mining equipment (such as safety lamps or electrical equipment). use of improper explosives underground can also cause methane and coal-dust explosions. ==worst mining disaster in history== on april 26, 1942 in the benxihu (honkeiko) colliery (coal mine), what is believed to have been the world's worst mining disaster took place, killing 1,549 miners. the disaster occurred in an area that is now within the bounds of modern-day china, but was then in a portion of china occupied by the japanese, just north of present-day korea. the japanese administrators of the mine had the actual mining work performed by forced chinese labor under harsh conditions. the disaster first began with a mine fire, but at the time, a hasty decision was made by the japanese mine operators to promptly cut off the ventilation and to completely seal off the mine to kill the fire. this reportedly left many unevacuated workers still alive within the sealed-off area of the mine to eventually also suffocate. once the fire was put out in this manner and the mine re-opened, it took 10 days to remove all of the bodies.the world's worst coal mining disasters of those killed, 1,518 were chinese, and 31 were japanese. afterwards, several bodies were buri
History_of_mining Industrial_accidents_and_incidents Mine_safety Mining_disasters