All 21 miners, trapped in a flooded coalmine in Dengfeng city,
central China's Henan province two weeks ago, have been confirmed
dead, said a local government source on Sunday.
The last three bodies were found by the rescue team Saturday
afternoon.
The flooding occurred at the Dongfeng Coal Mine, Baiping
township, on the evening of July 13, and only a half of the 42
miners who were working in the mine managed to escape the
accident.
A rescue team of more than 500 people failed to bring any of the
trapped miners out of danger despite their utmost effort because of
the difficult conditions underground.
Relatives of the 21 victims have received compensation, the
source said.
An all-round official investigation into the cause of the
accident would be launched on Monday.
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(Xinhua News Agency?? July 28, 2003)