A coal mine in Tiechanggou with 33 miners inside collapsed on Friday night, killing 16 workers and injuring 11 others. Six were unhurt in the incident that occurred outside the regional capital of Urumqi, Xianjing province.

While the name of the coal mine remains unidentified, Reuters reported that the cause of the accident is being probed. The collapse is yet another indicator of the poor safety standards in China, the largest coal producer and consumer in the world.

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The frequent mining accidents is attributed to the lax enforcement of safety benchmarks and the rush to meet the rising demand for the cheap energy source.

Since 2000, more than 58,000 mining deaths have been recorded across China by the State Administration of Work Safety. Until 2005, the annual fatality averaged more than 5,000 miners, but it tapered to below 2,000 death in 2011.

Measured per million tons of coal produced, the death rate has also been going down from 5.8 in 2000 to 0.89 in 2009.

Despite the improvements, China's coal mine accident rate remains one of the highest globally. In 2007, China was responsible for one-third of the world's coal production, but its coal mine fatalities accounted for four-fifths.

Beijing has pushed for higher safety standards that has resulted in lower deaths due to mining accidents. In 2015, the national government plans to close more than 2,000 small-scale coal mines across the country to remove mines with outdated capacities and further boost work safety.

The last coal mine accident in June recorded in southwestern China resulted in the death of 22 miners.

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