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172 trapped in flooded Chinese coal mine

XINTAI (CHINA): One hundred and seventy-two miners were trapped in a flooded coal mine in east China’s Shandong province after a miner earlier excluded was confirmed to be among the trapped, authoritative sources said on Saturday morning.

The flooding occurred at around 2:30 p.m. on Friday in the coal mine of Huayuan Mining Co. Ltd (formerly known as Zhangzhuang coalmine) in Xintai City, about 150 km south of Jinan, Shandong’s capital.

A total of 756 miners were working underground at the time of the flooding and 584 managed to escape after the accident, Xu Qinyu, general manager of the company said.

Torrential rain swept Xintai on Friday and early Saturday with a precipitation of 232 mm, triggering flash flood and a 50-metre breach of a levee of the swollen Wen river in the region.

Floodwater from the Wen river swamped the coal mine via an old shaft. The rain ended around 7:00 a.m. on Saturday. By 8:50 a.m., the working places under the mine have been all inundated, according to the rescue headquarters. Wang Ziqi, director of the Shandong coal mine safety administration, said the trapped miners had only slim chances of survival. — Xinhua

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