At about 2:30 on May 31, 2026, a privately dug and illegally mined phosphate resource collapsed in Nagu Town, Huize County, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, causing 5 deaths, 1 injury, and direct economic losses of approximately 173,000 yuan (the six illegal miners were not compensated). After investigation, it was determined that the "5·31" accident in Huize, Qujing was a major production safety accident in which Wang Mouxin and others premeditated and organized private excavation of phosphate ore. The excavation formed an umbrella canopy, causing the slope to become unstable and collapse. The local party committee, government and regulatory authorities failed to perform their duties, causing casualties.
The accident occurred at the Ertang Water Fire Passage in Group 1, Yinchangpo, Baiwu Village, Nagu Town, Huize County. The investigation report shows that on the evening of May 29, 2026, Wang Mouxin invited Zhu Mouyun in person and asked Zhu Mouyun to contact an excavator to carry out illegal mining of phosphate rock on Yinchangpo, Baiwu Village Committee, Nagu Town, Huize County. Zhu Mouyun refused on the spot without agreeing. At about 13:00 on the 30th, Wang Xin once again invited Zhu Mouyun over the phone to participate in illegal mining of phosphate ore. Zhu Mouyun finally agreed and invited his brother Zhu Moubing to participate in illegal mining of phosphate ore. At the same time, Wang Mouxin arranged for Chen to be responsible for coordinating and contacting the drivers and transportation vehicles needed for this illegal mining of phosphate ore. At about 22:40 on the 30th, Wang Xin summoned a total of six people, Wang Hua, Wang Jie, Luo, Feng Chao, Chen Heng, and Zhu Yun, to gather at Huishang Jin Street in Huize County, and arranged for Wang Hua, Zhu Yun, and Luo to drive Yun J349 38 Jiefang brand trailer truck went to Heitu Village, Wuxing Township, Huize County to transfer the excavator; Chen, Feng, and Huang were arranged to keep watch along the way; it was clear that after the excavator was transported to the illegal mining site on Yinchangpo, Luo would be responsible for vehicle dispatching.
At about 0:00 on the 31st, Chen gathered 8 drivers and 6 Jiefang brand dump trucks near the small vegetable garden in Zhongping Street, Huize County, on standby. At about 1 o'clock, Wang Hua, Zhu Yun, Luo and Zhu Bing and the excavator they carried arrived at the illegal mining site on Yinchangpo and met up with Wang Xin and Wang Jie who had been waiting here. Wang Xin made clear the division of illegal mining on site and arranged for Wang Jie to operate the excavator to carry out phosphate ore excavation operations. At the same time, he notified Chen on standby by phone and directed all dump trucks to line up to load phosphate ore at the illegal mining site. Subsequently, Wang Moujie operated an excavator to load two trucks, Yun D84017 and Yun F79607, with phosphate ore. After the two trucks were fully loaded, they went to Wang Xinxin's plot next to the cattle and horse trading market in Toutang Village, Baoyun Street, Huize County, to unload the phosphate ore. Wang Mouxin continued to organize the above five people to carry out phosphate mining operations.
At about 2:30 on the 31st, the slope of the illegal mining site suddenly collapsed. As a result, Luo and Wang Hua, who were under the slope on the left side of the excavator's working surface, were completely buried by the collapsed soil, and Zhu Mouyun's lower body was buried by the soil; After the collapse, Wang Moujie immediately stopped the excavation work, and Zhu Mouyun climbed out of the buried soil on his own, and then joined forces with Wang Xin, Wang Moujie, and Zhu Moubing to rescue Luo and Wang Hua who were buried by the soil. During the rescue process, the slope collapsed twice, causing Wang Xin, Wang Jie, and Zhu Bing to be completely buried by the collapsed soil. Zhu Mouyun was buried again by the soil, with only his head exposed. Chen did not hear the sound of the excavator working and noticed something abnormal at the scene. He immediately rushed to the illegal mining site to check and found that most of Zhu's body was buried in the soil and he was calling for help. He then organized four truck drivers, Pan Cha, Shao Lin, Liu Lin and Yu Cong, to carry out rescue operations. After rescuing Zhu Mouyun's upper body exposed from the soil, at 2:58, Zhu Mouyun called 110 to call the police for help and continued to rescue himself.
After receiving the report, the main leaders of the Huize County Party Committee, the county government, and the relevant leaders of the county government led the leaders of the county's emergency, public security, fire protection, natural resources, and health departments to rush to the scene to organize rescue and disposal work; the main leaders of the municipal party committee and the municipal government led the relevant leaders of the city's emergency, public security, firefighting, and natural resources departments to rush to the scene to guide the rescue and disposal work. At 3:25, Wang Moulin, a police officer from the Zhongping Street Police Station of the Huize County Public Security Bureau, led three auxiliary police officers to the scene to control order on the scene. At 3:31, six ambulances and 20 medical staff from Huize County People's Hospital arrived at the scene of the accident. At 3:32, 3 vehicles and 21 people from the Huize County Fire Rescue Brigade arrived at the scene of the accident and organized on-site search and rescue. At 3:53, Zhu Mouyun was successfully rescued; at 5:49, all five trapped persons were rescued, and the emergency rescue and response work was completed. At 6:24, after on-site rescue by medical staff, it was confirmed that five people, Zhu Moubing, Wang Moujie, Wang Xin, Wang Hua, and Luo, were dead; the injured Zhu Mouyun was sent to Huize County People's Hospital for treatment, and his vital signs were stable and not life-threatening. As of June 18, the remains of the five deceased people had been cremated and buried. According to the assessment of the accident investigation team, after the accident, the emergency rescue response was timely and efficient, and there were no new casualties.
In terms of the direct cause of the accident, the investigation report pointed out that through accident site investigation, inspection and identification, comprehensive analysis and judgment based on comprehensive meteorological information and accident site imaging data, the influence of natural geological disaster factors and other factors were eliminated. The direct cause of the accident was: illegal mining workers used excavators to excavate the slope of the forest fire passage road to form an umbrella canopy. The upper covering soil had a heavy weight and poor slope stability. The stress balance of the original rock and soil was broken, and the slope instability caused the first collapse. After the accident, the illegal mining workers on site had a weak safety awareness and did not predict and evaluate the risk of secondary collapse of the slope. They blindly rescued, and then a secondary collapse occurred, ultimately causing further casualties.
The appraisal results show that the Yunnan Desheng Judicial Appraisal Center’s judicial appraisal opinion, “Identification of Mineral Resource Losses Caused by Illegal Mining of Second Pond Water in a Group of Two Ponds in Baiwu Village, Nagu Town, Huize County,” concluded that minerals were illegally mined in a group of two ponds in Baiwu Village, Nagu Town, Huize County. It is a phosphate rock. As of June 1, 2026, this illegal mining behavior has consumed a total of 88.24m³ (189.72t) of phosphate rock resources, the illegal mining area is 63.48m², and the average grade of the mined phosphate rock P₂O₅ is 18.28%. The direct economic loss of mineral resources caused by this illegal mining behavior was RMB 83,477.00. The examination and identification by the Judicial Authentication Center of the Public Security Bureau of Huize County, Yunnan Province showed that the cause of death of Zhu Bing was craniocerebral injury; the cause of death of Wang Xin, Wang Jie, Wang Hua and Luo was burial asphyxiation.
The investigation report also pointed out the main problems existing in the responsible units. In terms of relevant regulatory authorities, the Qujing Municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau failed to fulfill its responsibility as the city's main body in cracking down on stolen mineral resources, and neglected to observe prominent issues such as the Huize County Natural Resources Bureau's strict crackdown on illegal mining and stolen mineral resources in accordance with the law, which was a mere formality and an idling of responsibilities; the Huize County Natural Resources Bureau fulfilled its responsibility to crack down on the illegal mining of mineral resources within its jurisdiction. The overall responsibility is not in place, the investigation of illegal mining sites is superficial, there is a problem of idling of responsibilities, the implementation of fragmented guarantees and grid-based supervision responsibilities is weak, the illegal mining sites involved are not classified into the corresponding regulatory responsibility areas, the risk research and judgment are not in-depth enough, the investigation and rectification of hidden dangers is a mere formality, and a closed-loop management working mechanism of investigation, assignment, supervision, and cancellation has not been established. Regarding the local party committees and governments, the Huize County Party Committee and the County People's Government have compromised the implementation of provincial and municipal plans to combat private mining and illegal mining of mineral resources. The implementation of relevant regulatory systems has been lax and lax. There has been insufficient research and judgment on the risks of private mining and illegal mining in remote and hidden areas under their jurisdiction, and no investigation has been carried out to discover the incident. Safety risks of illegal mining sites; the Nagu Town Party Committee and the Town People's Government have implemented weak implementation of safety production territorial management responsibilities and insufficient pressure transmission. From 2026 to the time of the incident, Liu Mouchun, the deputy town mayor in charge, led a team to inspect 18 times, and no hidden dangers and problems of illegal mining were found. The investigation report also pointed out that Li Moulin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Huize County Emergency Management Bureau, and Liang Mou, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Huize County Natural Resources Bureau, after discussions, reported the accident information to the Huize County Party Committee and the County People's Government. The time was tampered with and falsely reported as 4:30 on May 31, 2026, which was later than 2:58 on May 31, the time when the alarm was received. As a result, the Huize County Party Committee and County People's Government reported to their superiors that the time of the accident was 4:30 on May 31.
In terms of handling suggestions, it is recommended that Wang Xin, Wang Jie, Wang Hua, Luo and Zhu Bing die in the accident and not be held accountable. Chen organized the illegal mining and transportation of phosphate rock and was suspected of a criminal offense. He was criminally detained by the Huize County Public Security Bureau on June 1, 2026. For clues about problems in the performance of duties by public officials in relevant departments, it is recommended that they be handed over to the Qujing City Discipline Inspection and Supervision Agency for handling according to law. For Zhu Yuyun, Xiong, Yu Cong, Wang Yong, Wang Tian, Pan Cha, Shao Lin, Liu Lin, Huang Shu, Chen Heng and Feng Chao, it is recommended that the Qujing Municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau implement administrative penalties in accordance with the provisions of Article 64, paragraph 1, of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China. The Huize County Party Committee, County People's Government, Nagu Town Party Committee, Town People's Government, Qujing Municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, Huize County Natural Resources Bureau and other relevant party committees and governments and relevant regulatory departments have problems, and it is recommended to transfer them to the disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies for disposal.
The investigation report proposed that we should strengthen overall management and control at the county level and improve the overall governance system; strictly rectify illegal mining and illegal mining to build a strong security defense line at the source; consolidate township responsibilities and build a dense grassroots supervision network; consolidate responsibilities for crackdowns and achieve precise and standardized supervision; deepen safety publicity and education to build a solid bottom line for national safety; improve the emergency response system, improve risk management capabilities, and effectively prevent similar accidents from happening again.
