Rescuers are maintaining phone contact with 69 miners who have been
trapped in a flooded coal mine in central China's
Henan Province since Sunday morning.
Experts are trying to send food and drinking water through the
800-meter-long ventilation pipes to the miners. The miners were
working underground when a flood triggered by rainstorms hit the
region at around 8:40 a.m. on Sunday.
The trapped miners have not reported any injuries to rescuers
through the fixed line phone. At 3:00 PM they asked for food and
water.
The area where the miners are trapped is dry. They still have
electricity but ventilation was poor, according to reports.
Just 33 of the 102 miners working underground at the time
managed to escape from the Zhijian Coal Mine, located in Shanxian
County, Sanmenxia City, about 200 kilometers west of Zhengzhou,
Henan's provincial capital.
Reports indicate that the floodwater came from a nearby
river.
Hundreds of rescuers, including armed police, are struggling to
prevent more water from entering the shaft. They are clearing away
the silt, providing ventilation and oxygen to the trapped
miners.
This state-owned mine was established in 1958. Designed to
produce 210,000 tons of coal a year, its actual annual output is
300,000 tons.
Senior officials have arrived at the site to oversee rescue
work. Xu Guangchun, Secretary of the Henan Provincial Committee of
the Communist Party of China, Li Chengyu, Governor of Henan, Li
Yizhong, Director of the State Administration of Work Safety, and
Zhao Tiechui, Director of the State Administration of Coal Mine
Safety, are currently at the scene.
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(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2007)
