Before being allowed to continue on the road that leads to the mine, nearly all of the employees were stopped by the police and checked for permission to enter.
Virtually all staff were come by police and checked for section endorsements prior to being permitted to continue along the street prompting the mine.

The area would only be accessible to those with permission from the government, according to a police officer. She claimed that people who lived close to the mine had been instructed to stay in a town nearby.

Another checkpoint in the neighboring region of Ningxia, 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of the mine, had a high level of security, with dozens of officers scrutinizing each vehicle that attempted to pass in either direction.

Covered trucks, in addition to other pieces of heavy equipment, could be seen. What the trucks were carrying was a mystery.

The head of the rescue operation, Chang Zhigang, told reporters Thursday that rescuers used thermal imagers and equipment to detect vital signs in addition to heavy digging equipment and cameras that could snake down into the debris.

Chang stated that crews were acting extremely cautiously to avoid additional secondary disasters.

He stated, “We will continue to increase the rescue force, race against the clock, and do our best to search for and rescue the lives of every trapped person.”

Chang stated that some individuals have been detained and that police are looking into the cause of the collapse.

He stated, “We will publicize the investigation result in due course.”

People and mining trucks below were buried in tons of rocks and sand when the pit’s first wall caved in around noon Wednesday. A second landslide occurred approximately five hours later, necessitating the suspension of work.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, approximately 900 rescuers armed with heavy equipment were on the scene by Thursday morning and had resumed the search.

“All-out efforts in search and rescue” and “ensuring the safety of people’s lives and property and maintaining overall social stability” were urged by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

CCTV images of the collapse showed a huge wall of debris falling down a slope and landing on people and vehicles below.

According to the news website The Paper, the company that runs the mine, Inner Mongolia Xinjing Coal Industry Co. Ltd., was fined last year for a number of safety violations, including unsafe storage of volatile materials, unsafe routes into and out of the pit, and a lack of safety staff training.

Critics claim that coal, other minerals, and rare earths mining in Inner Mongolia has ravaged the region’s mountains, grassy steppes, and deserts.

China generates the majority of its electricity from coal, but the country has attempted to reduce the number of fatal mine accidents by placing a greater emphasis on safety and shutting down smaller operations that lacked the necessary equipment.

In recent months, it has recorded a slew of fatal accidents in the construction and industrial sectors as a result of inadequate safety training and regulation, official corruption, and companies’ propensity to cut corners.

The Ministry of Emergency Management announced last month that, despite those high-profile incidents, the overall number of industrial accidents decreased by 27% from the previous year in 2022, when much of China’s economy was shut down under its “zero COVID” policy. The ministry also reported a decrease of 23.6 percent in the number of fatal accidents.