The death toll from the railway tunnel flood in central China's Hubei Province has risen to three with seven others still missing, rescuers said on Tuesday.

 

Two bodies were found by 11:40 PM Tuesday after more than 200 people were dispatched to search for the trapped workers, said Tan Zhengbiao, general manager of China Railway 16th Group Co., Ltd. He is supervising the tunnel’s construction.

 

The fatal flooding occurred at approximately 1:00 AM on Sunday in the Yesanguan rail tunnel in the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. It trapped 52 workers but 43 of them were rescued later the same day.
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Chen Deqi, 49, one of the 43 rescued workers, died early on Monday after emergency treatment failed. Another rescued worker, Chen Xiangyong, was still in critical condition. He was moved to another hospital to treat multiple injuries, which could lead to renal failure, said Deng Zhongfu, deputy head of the Minzu Hospital in the Badong County.

 

The 18 other workers were stable, receiving treatment for internal injuries, pneumonia, fever, and other conditions.

 

Twenty-three rescued workers have been discharged from hospital.

 

Silt has clogged an area 150 meters from the entrance to the tunnel. In some areas the mud and rock reach four meters high, the local rescue headquarters said.

 

The rescuers are widening and clearing a horizontal shaft so they can move in equipment to clear the water and silt. Rescue workers, with ropes tied to their waist to prevent them from falling over, are shouting through loudspeakers and looking for the missing workers.

A group of officials, headed by Wang Dexue, vice director of the State Administration of Work Safety, visited the workers at the Minzu hospital Monday afternoon. He offered 1,000 yuan (US$132) to each of the injured.

 

The 14-km tunnel is the longest of the 121 tunnels along the Yiwan Railway, which links Yichang City in Hubei Province with Wanzhou in Chongqing Municipality.

Rescue workers said that the accident occurred at a site 240 meters from the tunnel’s mouth.

 

Heavy rains have triggered severe flooding and mudslides in many parts of central China in the past few weeks.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2007)