This Week in China's History: Explosion at the Benxihu Coal Mine
April 26, 1942
Listen to the narration of the column, read by Kaiser Kuo
As the Pacific War raged, explosions were commonplace across East Asia in 1942. Many of these blasts came from above, as bombs or artillery shells rained down on military and civilian targets. Yet one of the deadliest explosions of the entire war era came not from the sky, but from deep underground, and was not intentional but entirely accidental.
What is today Liaoning province in northeast China was at that time under Japanese control, part of the puppet state of Manchukuo that had been established a decade earlier as Japan began its drive to occupy China.
The Benxihu mine had been established in 1905 as a joint Chinese-Japanese venture, mining not only coal but iron ore as well. As Japanese influence in the region expanded, it came under exclusively Japanese control, part of the expansion of Japanese political and economic influence that preceded its military moves. Japanese control was further strengthened after the establishment of Manchukuo, although a majority of the workers in the mine were Chinese. Benxihu was one of the largest coal mines in the world, producing fuel for Manchukuo and Japan’s burgeoning industry as well as — once the Pacific War began — the Japanese military.
April 26, 1942, was a Sunday, and although the mine remained active, most of the site’s (Japanese) management had the day off, while about 2000 miners worked below the surface. The miners were in the midst of a 12-hour shift that had begun before dawn when the entire mine lost electricity. Crucially, this power was needed to operate the fans that provided ventilation and air circulation for the mines. The fans were idled for more than two hours, and during all that time carbon monoxide and other toxic gasses accumulated in the vast underground complex. It was urgent that the power be restored to ensure that breathable air be available to the miners.
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