A coal mines in Heilongjiang region in the north-east part of China witnessed a late night fire. It is said that 21 people are dead and one person is missing. The reports and death toll were confirmed by the media and local authorities on November 21, 2015.

As the Star News Online reports, the Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group owned the Xinghua mines. It is situated in the Jixi city of China. The fire in the mines was controlled with much effort recovering 21 bodies from the mines on Saturday.

China is the leading coal producer in the world. Many a times the negligence from the company authorities for profit making leads to an unsafe atmosphere for the workers. This weakly regulated sector is trying to improve with the time including various safety measures in the mines for the security of the workers.

The Xinghua mine is situated along the Russian border where the mishap took place. In the month of July, six workers were rescued from a flooded coal mine. They were said to be stuck underground for a week and had survived. But unfortunately, an accident followed the event killing four.

The deadly coal mines in China are the most noxious in the whole world. The year 2002 witnessed approximately 7000 deaths of coal miners, 2008 had 3200 deaths and 2009 saw 2631 deaths of coal miners, though last year the coal mine accidents reduced to 931 across the country.

The safety measures by the Government in the recent times have reduced the number of accident in a coal mine in the recent years. The NBC12 reported this incident to be the second-deadliest incident since the water leak episode during the month of April this year. It is said that 21 people were killed in the Datong city coal mines situated in the Shanxi region due to the water leak in the mines.

According to the reports of the Xinghua news agency, there were 38 miners underground working when one part of the coal belt was wedged in fatal blaze. The rescuers are said to safely bring out 16 miners out of the mines, but the reason behind the fire still remains unknown.

USA Today reported, Xing was the family name given by the employee of work safety who confirmed that the rescuers are at work to search the missing miner.

Although the reason of the fire is still not known and the missing person is yet to be found, officials are working to gain more knowledge on the occurrence. It is likely that the cause of the fire will be revealed soon. Till then we just hope the missing miner is alive and found at the earliest.