The 172 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in east China's
Shandong province will not be found alive, according to a statement
released by the provincial government on Thursday.
After 20 days of rescue efforts, the statement quoted "life
scientists" as saying the miners "will not return alive".
The main shaft of the Huayuan mine in Xintai was filled with
floodwater on August 17, while miners were working deep
underground.
Rescuers have informed the trapped miners' families of the
experts' conclusion.
Rescuers were still pumping water out of the mine on Thursday
and had extracted 1.57 million cubic meters of water by Wednesday.
An official in charge of the rescue operation said the rescuers
would continue pumping water so as to find the miners, despite the
conclusion by the experts.
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 and trapping 181 miners. A total of 756 miners were
working underground at the Huayuan mine at the time of the flooding
and 584 managed to escape.
Most of the trapped workers were from rural areas of Tai'an City
and surrounding areas, said Wang Junmin, vice governor of
Shandong.
Minister of Civil Affairs Li Xueju had said the flooding was a
natural disaster.
The government and enterprises will provide compensation to the
families of the coal mine flooding victims, Li said, adding his
ministry was considering to build a compensation system for the
victims of natural disasters and was negotiating details with
relevant departments.
Local authorities have launched investigations against Zheng
Zhenxiu, chairman of the Huayuan Mining Co., Ltd., and Zhang
Chanjun, vice general manger of the company.
The provincial government has launched a full investigation into
the cause of the accident. Those responsible for the accident will
be severely punished according to the law, the statement said.
Huayuan Mining Co., Ltd. is a licensed enterprise with an annual
capacity of 750,000 tons. The flooded mine was built in 1957.
As of 6:00?PM Thursday, the water level of Huayuan coal
mine had fallen to 20.01 meters above the sea level, 72.59 meters
down from the previous level. Rescuers have to reduce the water
level by 50.01 meters more to reach the nearest location where some
of the 172 miners might be trapped.
Ten pumps were working Thursday evening extracting 5,930 cubic
meters of water per hour.
There was still no word on the fate of the other nine miners
trapped by flooding in the nearby Minggong mine.
Enterprises, individuals and local governments have donated 50
million yuan for miners from the two flooded collieries and their
families by August 26.
The money would be used for rescue work, consolation for
relatives of the trapped miners, and subsidy for other miners as
operation of the mines is suspended.
Among the donators, the China National Coal Group Corp. was the
first to offer a large amount -- one million yuan. Following suit
was the the adjacent Xinwen Coal mine that donated 3.2 million
yuan. Government of Shandong cities including Jinan and Qingdao
have also donated.
(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2007)