BEIJING – Months after a catastrophic gas explosion at a Shanxi province coal mine claimed 82 lives, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog has announced that the region’s leading mine safety regulator is facing formal investigation for suspected graft and serious violations of disciplinary and legal rules. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) confirmed in a public notice released Monday evening that Hu Haijun, who holds dual roles as director of the Shanxi Bureau of the National Mine Safety Administration and the bureau’s Communist Party chief, is the subject of the ongoing probe. The short announcement posted to the CCDI’s official website did not disclose further details about the specific violations alleged against Hu. Per reporting from Caixin, a leading Chinese independent business publication, Hu marks the highest-ranking official swept into the expanding investigation into governance and safety practices across Shanxi’s coal mining sector, one of the world’s largest concentrated coal production hubs. The deadly May accident, which stands as China’s deadliest industrial mining disaster in several years, prompted Chinese authorities to launch a sweeping, province-wide blanket safety inspection of all operating coal mines in the region. While China has made consistent, measurable progress in reducing mining fatalities and improving overall worksite safety over the past decade, systemic gaps in mine oversight and industrial safety regulation remain persistent challenges for national regulators. The mine where the explosion occurred is operated by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal & Coke Group, which was formally listed as a high-risk, disaster-prone operation by the National Mine Safety Administration earlier this year in 2024. Even as China accelerates its global-leading buildout of wind and solar renewable energy capacity, coal continues to anchor the country’s national energy mix, accounting for more than half of China’s total annual energy consumption. As China’s preeminent coal-producing province, Shanxi is home to roughly 800,000 coal mining workers and churned out 1.3 billion tons of coal in 2023 alone – nearly one-third of the entire country’s total annual coal output. The probe into Hu comes as Beijing continues to push a years-long national campaign to crack down on corruption across critical regulated industries, with safety oversight highlighted as a priority for anti-graft efforts following high-profile industrial accidents.
China investigates mine-safety official for corruption after deadly gas explosion
