Eight miners were rescued early Thursday morning in a coal mine
flooding in northeast China's Jilin Province, said the local work safety
supervision administration.
The rescuers are trying to reach the rest seven who are still
trapped.
The accident occurred at around 5?AM Wednesday at the Xiren
Coal Mine in Wudaojiang town of Tonghua city when 19 miners were
working underground. Four managed to escape, the administration
said.
The eight were rushed to a local hospital immediately after they
were rescued at 4:00?AM and are in stable conditions. Two of
them are local villagers and the rest six are from southwestern
province of Sichuan.
Five pumps have been pumping out water since 2?PM on
Wednesday, it said.
With an annual production of 30,000 tons, the privately owned
Xiren Coal Mine is a qualified coal mine and possesses all the
required licenses for operation from the local government.
"No accident has ever happened at the mine before," said Yuan
Yuqing, deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Coal Industry
Bureau.
An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.
(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2006)