International Desk : At least 16 people have been killed in a coal mine fire in southwest China's Guizhou province, local officials said.

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The Panzhou City government said in a notice said the fire broke out at the Shanjiaoshu Coal Mine on Sunday.

Emergency personnel extinguished the blaze and temperatures at the site returned to normal, but "after preliminary verification, 16 people have no vital signs", the notice said.

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China -- the world's biggest emitter of the pollutants driving climate change -- operates thousands of coal mines, even as Beijing has pledged to peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

While safety standards in the country's mining sector have improved in recent decades, accidents still frequently plague the industry, often due to lax enforcement of protocols, especially at the most rudimentary sites.

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Last year, 245 people died in 168 accidents, according to official figures.

And in December, around 40 people were working underground when a gold mine in the northwestern Xinjiang region collapsed.

Sun News/MR

people killed mine southwest China province Guizhou

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