At least 123 miners, and not the previously estimated 102, have
been trapped in the Daxing Coalmine in south China's Guangdong
Province since it flooded on Sunday afternoon, a senior local
official said on Tuesday.
"An additional 21 miners were added to the missing persons list
that was announced on Monday," You Ningfeng, vice governor of
Guangdong and head of rescue operations, said.
"Currently, they are trapped about 480 meters underground. The
chances of survival for the trapped miners are slim. They've been
down there for more than 55 hours," You added.
Nevertheless,
Huang
Huahua, governor of Guangdong, pledged: "If there is even a
tiny hope, we will spare no efforts in rescuing the trapped
miners."
The incident occurred at about 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, when an
estimated 15 million to 20 million cubic meters of water gushed
into the mineshaft. Only four miners managed to escape.
"I can't remember anything about the sudden flooding," Zeng
Huanbiao, one of the survivors, said from his hospital bed.
The 30-year-old miner, who was washed out of the pit, now
suffers from respiratory pneumonia and breathing difficulties. He
also sustained injuries to his kidneys and lungs, according to a
physician in charge of his treatment.
Rescue headquarters set up at the site announced the names of
missing miners on Tuesday morning. Those missing come mainly from
Hunan
and
Jiangxi
provinces, and Xingning City.
At present, four pumps are working round-the-clock and five
high-power ones are to be installed soon.
The local government had ordered all mines to stop production
after a similar accident only a month ago. But owners of the Daxing
coalmine ignored the order.
"The latest flooding in Daxing is a grave example of
non-adherence to production safety," Zhang Dejiang, secretary of
the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, said at a conference held
in Guangzhou on Tuesday.
Zhang blamed the accident on the operators of Daxing and the
local departments' inadequate management of coalmines.
"A thorough examination of all local mines should be launched
immediately and those who fail to meet the national production
safety standards must be closed," Zhang said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2005)
