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Weather Hits Efforts To Save Trapped China Mine Workers
Beijing (AFP) July 30, 2007 Heavy rain and fog hampered efforts to rescue 69 workers trapped in a flooded Chinese coal mine for over a day, state media reported Monday. The state-owned mine in central China's Henan province flooded on Sunday morning with 102 workers underground, and only 33 were able to escape, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the local rescue bureau's headquarters. Efforts to save those underground were making little headway on Monday with hundreds of rescuers struggling to put in place pumps outside the entrance to the pit due to the muddy conditions and relentless rain, Xinhua said. Fog had caused visibility in the area to drop to just 15 metres (50 feet), while trucks carrying rescue supplies had been left stranded on unpassable roads, local officials were cited as saying. Rescuers later made telephone contact with the miners and were trying to send food and water to them through an 800-metre (yard) ventilation pipe, Xinhua reported. None of the miners had reported any injuries, it said. The Zhijian coal mine is about 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Henan's capital, Zhengzhou. The area of the mine where they were trapped was dry but ventilation was poor, the agency said, adding that rescuers were struggling to prevent more water entering the shaft and provide oxygen to the trapped miners. If the miners do not survive, the accident would be one of the deadliest to have been reported in China's notoriously dangerous coal mining industry this year. More than 4,700 workers were killed last year, according to official figures, although independent labour groups put the death toll at up to 20,000 annually. Many deaths in the corruption-plagued industry go unreported, as mine workers and local officials, who are often their business partners, collude to cover up the accidents. The head of the State Administration of Work Safety, Li Yizhong, travelled to the Zhijian coal mine on Monday to oversee the rescue efforts, Xinhua said. The mine, built in 1958, was operating with a license but its annual output was more than its designed capacity, according to Xinhua. The mine is designed to produce 210,000 tonnes of coal a year, but its output is 300,000 tonnes, Xinhua said.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Surviving the Pits
Major Increase In Federal Research Needed To Determine Size Of US Coal Reserves
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 21, 2007Because coal will continue to provide a substantial portion of U.S. energy for at least the next several decades, a major increase in federal support for research and development is needed to ensure that this natural resource is extracted efficiently, safely, and in an environmentally responsible manner, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council. |
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