China acknowledges 53 fatalities in mine collapse in February.

According to state media, China has verified that 53 people were murdered in a coal mine collapse that occurred in the northern Inner Mongolia area in February.

A 180-meter-high (590-foot) slope at an open-pit mine in the isolated Alxa League came way, burying people and cars below, leaving dozens of people missing.

Six survivors and six dead were first discovered among the wreckage by rescuers, but officials withheld any additional information for months.

According to the provincial emergency agency, 47 people who were listed as missing following the event “had been confirmed to have no vital signs,” according to state television CCTV on Wednesday.

“The search and rescue work has now finished,” CCTV said, adding that “the large-scale collapse on February 22… killed 53 people”.

At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping issued an order for officials to “do everything possible to search for and rescue the missing people… and protect the security of people’s lives and property as well as overall social stability” as an indication of the seriousness of the crisis.

According to local government announcements, authorities sent hundreds of employees and more than 100 pieces of equipment as part of the rescue operation.

The economy of the sparsely populated Alxa League is heavily dependent on mining and other extractive industries.

In recent years, both mine safety and media coverage of significant incidents—many of which were previously ignored—have improved in China.

However, accidents continue to happen often in a sector where safety standards are frequently inadequate, particularly at the most basic facilities.