Rescuers: Hope dims for 15 trapped miners
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-05-10 08:59

There is little hope of finding alive the 15 miners who have been trapped for ten days in a flooded coal mine in north China's Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, said the rescue work direction headquarters on Sunday.

Complicated geological conditions increased the difficulties for rescuers to find the 15 miners trapped in the Xinyuan Coal Mine, located in Hainan district of Wuhai City.

As of 4:00 p.m. Sunday, the water level in the flooded shafts had been dropped by 138 cm from the level when the accident occurred on April 30, after more than 50,000 cubic meters of water was pumped out, said the headquarters.

Thirty-two miners were working underground when the accident took place and seventeen of them have been rescued.

The Xinyuan Coal Mine reports a reserve of one million tons andits annual production capacity is 30,000 tons.

The coal mine was ordered to halt production due to bad ventilation on April 28 by the local coal mine safety supervision administration.

Operation illegally resumed covertly by the coal mine owner wasblamed for the accident.