A coal mine collapsed on Wednesday in north China's coal-rich Shanxi Province, trapping seven miners working
underground, local authorities said.
The accident happened at about 1:20 PM at the Liujialiang Coal
Mine in Xinzhou City, according to a spokesman of the Shanxi
Provincial Coal Mine Safety Administration.
He said local authorities are organizing rescue efforts and
provided no more details.
The coal mine is owned by the Xuangang Coal and Power Company
under the Datong Coal Mine Group.
19 days of searching find no sign of 181 trapped
miners
Rescuers have not found signs of the 181 miners trapped in two
flooded coal mines in east China's Shandong Province after 19 days of searching,
but they were still pumping water out of the shafts on
Wednesday.
By 6 PM on Wednesday, the rescuers had dug 382 meters below the
ground surface and needed to break through another three meters of
soil before they reach the working passage, said sources with the
rescue headquarters.
Meanwhile, they were consolidating the entrance of the mine
shaft that had suffered an unexpected collapse on Tuesday. The
collapse impeded the rescue efforts.
Flood water swept through a 65-meter wide breach in the Wenhe
River levee on Aug. 17, inundating the Huayuan and Minggong mines
in Xintai, leaving 181 miners trapped underground, including 172
miners from Huayuan Coal Mine.
Despite slim chances of survival for the miners, rescuers have
been digging an extra 385-meter-deep hole in hopes of reaching the
working platform where most of the 172 miners were trapped in
Huayuan.
Twelve water pumps have been used to extract water from the two
flooded coal mines A total of 1.57 million cubic meters of water
has been pumped out to date.
By Wednesday evening, the water level of Huyuan coal mine had
fallen to 25.38 meters, 67.22 meters down from the previous level.
Rescuers have to reduce the water level by 55.38 meters in order to
reach the nearest location where some of the 172 miners might be
trapped.
(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2007)