Rescuers work round the clock to find the missing

When I reached the road leading to the Liushenyu coal mine in Qinyuan county, Shanxi province, around noon on Saturday, it had already been sealed off.

Ambulances waited nearby. Rescue vehicles rushed in and out. Police cordons marked the boundary between the outside world and a rescue operation unfolding deep underground — in tunnels rendered extremely dangerous by cave-ins, flooding and toxic gases.

A huge explosion rocked the coal mine at 7:29 pm on Friday. As of Saturday night, local authorities confirmed that 82 people had been killed and two remained unaccounted for. A total of 128 people were injured and taken to hospitals for treatment.