Floods Leave 181 Chinese Miners Trapped

Dike Breaks, Filling Mine With Water; Miners' Have Reported 'Slim Chances Of Survival'

(AP)  Rescuers raced Saturday to pump water out of two coal mines flooded by a collapsed dike in eastern China, where 181 miners were missing and feared dead.

State media said more than 2,000 soldiers, police and miners closed the breach in the dike in Shandong province early Sunday and installed pipes and five high-speed pumps, but gave no indication if there were any signs of life.

The Huayuan Mining Co. mine flooded Friday afternoon when the Wen river burst a dike, sending water pouring into a shaft and trapping 172 miners, Xinhua and state television said.

Nine more miners were trapped when water poured into the nearby Minggong Coal Mine Friday evening, according to Xinhua.

On Saturday, Xinhua quoted Wang Ziqi, director of Shandong's coal mine safety agency, as saying the miners "had only slim chances of survival."

It is not known how far the compound is from the flooded mine. Besides blocking roads in the area that is pockmarked with the mouths of scores of mines, reporters for local Chinese media were ordered to leave in an effort to control the release of information.

A total of 756 miners were working underground at the time of the flooding and 584 managed to escape.

Xinhua said that Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had ordered rescuers to "promptly mobilize equipment and personnel resources available and take all necessary measures to rescue the trapped miners."

Roads to the mine were blocked, but upset family members could be seen arriving at the gates to a compound that appeared to house offices of the state-owned Huayuan company.

At one gate, about 30 relatives and an equal number of bystanders yelled at guards and officials, saying they have not been kept informed. Several relatives were roughed up and one man showed his torn shirt.

One woman whose husband is trapped, Ren Hua, said she had been called Friday and told there was no problem and that they were pumping water out.

But when she arrived Saturday with her 11-year-old son she found the pumping had not started yet.

"No one tells us anything. We want to know how much work has been done and whether they are drawing off the water," a crying Ren said.

Other relatives could be seen rattling one of the gates and yelling "they are not preventing the flooding."

China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with thousands of fatalities each year in fires, floods and other disasters. Many are blamed on managers who disregard safety rules.

The government has promised for years to improve mine safety, but China depends on coal for most of its electric power, and the country's economic boom has created voracious demand. Production has more than doubled since 2000.

China's deadliest reported coal mine disaster since the 1949 communist revolution was an explosion that killed 214 miners on Feb. 14, 2005, in the Sunjiawan mine in Liaoning province.

Xinhua said the Huayuan mine is a licensed enterprise with an annual capacity of 750,000 tons. It was built in 1957.

China's latest disaster comes as rescuers in Utah suspended the search for six coal miners trapped since Aug. 6 by a cave-in. Authorities announced the suspension Friday following a tunnel collapse that killed three rescue workers.

[erasmus6]

Everyone needs to stop mining coal. There are other things that can be used for electricity, try one of those.

[robertkjjj]

Really? Hmmm, do you think these mine workers in China don''t KNOW this is a dangerous job? Do you think someone put a gun to their head and made them go work there? Do you think there is supposed to be some kind of guarantee in life that there will be no risk, no danger at work? Listen, China is not Sweden or Norway. It''s CHINA!!!! Life has always been a struggle there, and it will be that way for another thousand years. If they don''t want to mine, let then go cook chow mein or farm rice. Tough!
www.jihadwatch.org

[mythoughtsr]

Aren''t their mines the place where dozens if not hundreds die every year? Even here you hear of all these terrible mining disasters. Does anyone ever take the blame or do anything about the conditions? All you hear about are mines with multiple violations yet the workers keep dying. Very sad.