Benxihu (Honkeiko) Colliery () was a

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

Benxi Benxi ( zh, s=本溪, ) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, southeast of the provincial capital of Shenyang. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,326,018 (1,709,538 in 2010), of ...

, Liaoning, China, first mined in 1905. Originally an iron and coal mining project under joint Japanese and Chinese control, the mine came under predominantly Japanese control. In the early 1930s, Japan invaded the northeast of China, and Liaoning province became part of the Japanese-controlled

puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, the Japanese forced Chinese labourers—some of whom had been captured from local military organizations—to work the colliery under very poor conditions. Food was scarce and workers did not have sufficient clothing. Working conditions were harsh, and diseases such as

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...

and

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

flourished due to poor sanitation and water supplies. Typically,

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

s worked 12-hour shifts or longer. The Japanese controllers were known to beat workers with pick handles, and the perimeter of the mine was fenced and guarded. Many describe the conditions as slave labour.

Coal dust explosion

On April 26, 1942, a gas and coal-

dust explosion A dust explosion is the rapid combustion of fine particles suspended in the air within an enclosed location. Dust explosions can occur where any dispersed powdered combustible material is present in high-enough concentrations in the atmosphere ...

in the mine sent flames bursting from the mine shaft entrance. Miners' relatives rushed to the site but were denied entry by a cordon of Japanese guards, who erected electric fences to keep them out. In an attempt to curtail the fire underground, the Japanese shut off the ventilation and sealed the pit head. Witnesses say that the Japanese did not evacuate the pit fully before sealing it, trapping many Chinese workers underground to suffocate in the smoke. The

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

later investigated and blamed the actions of the Japanese for needlessly increasing the death toll. It took workers ten days to remove all the corpses and rubble from the shaft. The dead were buried in a mass grave nearby. Many victims could not be properly identified due to the extent of the burns. The Japanese at first reported the death toll to be 34. Initial newspaper reports were short, as few as 40 words, and downplayed the scale of the disaster, characterizing it as a minor event. Later the Japanese erected a monument to the dead. This stone gave the number of dead as 1,327. The true number is believed to be 1,549, 34% of the miners working that day. It was the worst disaster in the history of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

and the second-worst recorded industrial accident. Of this number, 31 fatalities were Japanese, the remaining 1,518 were Chinese. The Japanese continued to operate the mine until the end of World War II, in 1945, when they were defeated and forced to withdraw from China. Following the Japanese withdrawal, the Chinese workers took control of the site. With the liberation after the war, the Soviet Union investigated the accident. They found that only some of the workers died directly from the gas and coal-dust explosion. Most deaths were from

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

produced when the Japanese closed the ventilation and sealed the pit head after the initial explosion.

References

{{coord, 41, 19, 40, N, 123, 46, 25, E, region:CN-21_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title 1942 in China 1942 mining disasters Coal mining disasters in China Dust explosions Explosions in 1942 History of Liaoning Industrial fires and explosions in China World War II sites in China 1942 disasters in China 20th century in Manchuria

Coal dust explosion

See also

References