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Extraordinarily severe coal mine accidents (ESCMAs) are characteristized by thirty fatalities or more in one accident. In this paper, such ESCMAs are analyzed using 188 cases which occurred in Chinese underground coal mines. The analysis shows that the number of ESCMAs and the death toll have decreased steadily over time. Gas explosions, mine water inrushes, and coal dust explosions are the three major types of ESCMAs. Among the causes of ESCMAs, inadequate implementation of safety measures, deliberate violations and electromechanical equipment faults are the three top causes of ESCMAs, accounting for 27.13 %, 21.81 %, and 15.96 % of incidences, respectively. Meanwhile, ESCMAs frequently occur in the heading face, especially gas explosions, mine water inrushes and coal and gas outbursts. Furthermore, ESCMAs reoccur often in certain provinces, such as Shanxi, Henan and Heilongjiang, and mostly during November and December in each year. The results of statistical studies have presented useful information for the prevention of ESCMAs in order to reduce the probability of such disastrous accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]