Guangdong: hope fades for 102 miners trapped in a flooded mine
Guangzhou (AsiaNews/Agencies) Rescuers were using water pumps on Monday in an effort to reach 102 miners who were trapped underground in a coal mine flood in southern China, as top leaders ordered an all-out effort to rescue them.
Four miners escaped from the mine after the accident, which occurred at 1.30pm on Sunday in a tunnel 420 metres underground at the privately owned Daxing Colliery in Wanghuai Town of Meizhou City in Guangdong province, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing a local official.
One of the four was hospitalised, Xinhua said without giving details.
With the water level still rising at a rate of 50 centimetres an hour, the chances for survival of the 102 miners still trapped underground were slim, it cited unnamed experts as saying.
Top officials in charge of work safety and coal mine administration were on their way to the mine to help supervise the rescue effort, Xinhua said.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, both of whom have vowed stronger efforts to improve mine safety, ordered local authorities to "take substantial steps and spare no efforts" to save the trapped miners.
Local officials contacted by telephone on Monday refused to comment on the accident. The provincial work safety bureau also refused telephone inquiries, while calls to the national work safety administration went unanswered.
Rescuers were drawing water out of the mine with pumps, said Xinhua, citing a city government official at the scene.
It said authorities were not sure where the water was coming from
An investigation into the cause of the accident was under way and local government officials ordered coal mines in the city to suspend operations for a safety examination, Xinhua said.
A previous report put the number of trapped miners at 103, but the official told Xinhua that it was a miscount and revised the figure to 102.
The mainland suffers more than 5,000 deaths a year in floods, fires and other disasters in coal mines despite repeated government promises to tighten enforcement of safety standards.
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06/06/2018 09:14
28/11/2005
