Three have been confirmed dead and 25 miners are still missing
after a coal mine, which was operating with an expired safety
licence, was flooded in Linxian in Luliang, a city in north China's
Shanxi Province.
An expert team headed by Jin Zhaoming, an official with the
State Administration of Production Safety, arrived at the mine to
help the rescue work and the rescue team has recovered three
bodies.
The mine that was accidentally flooded on Saturday, Jin said on
Sunday adding it is the most serious coal mine accident in China so
far this year.
Rescuers are working around the clock pumping water out of the
pit and have only slim hopes of finding trapped miners alive, Jin
said.
Altogether 58 miners were working in the pit when the Fanjiashan
Colliery was flooded at around 3:30?PM Saturday. Thirty of
them managed to escape.
Investigators said the mine's safety license had expired.
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2006)