Society

Lights detected in flooded coal mine

By Yan Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-05 08:53

A miner shouts orders as he attempts to push a cart of supplies into the main shaft of Wangjialing Coal Mine in Shanxi province on Sunday. [Ng Han Guan/AP]

Drainage workers find signs of life in flooded mine

Monday 08:40 am update: 9 rescued after 179 hrs in flooded mine

BEIJING: Rescuers said on Sunday night that they saw moving lamp lights in the flooded Wangjialing Coal Mine of Shanxi province, indicating signs of life below where 153 workers have been trapped for a week.

"Several lamp lights were swaying at the other side of the lane," drainage workers who have been piping out water since March 29 told Xinhua News Agency.

Earlier, rescuers deployed inflatable boats to reach the miners. Five of the boats were lowered into the mine and a team of 120 rescuers was preparing to enter the pit as soon as possible, Liu Zhengde, a spokesman for the rescue headquarters, told reporters on Sunday afternoon.

Rescuers would search for survivors in three directions underground, he said.

On the ground, other rescuers were continuing to pump water out of the mine to make room for the underground rescue effort. As of Sunday noon, 132,000 cubic meters of groundwater had been pumped out of the pit.

At about 1:40 pm last Sunday, underground water gushed into the coal mine, which was under construction, when 261 miners were working underground. Altogether, 108 were lifted safely to the surface.

Conditions of the trapped workers remained unclear on Sunday and the underground situation was described as "very difficult" by the first group of rescuers and divers who entered the mine on Saturday.

Dozens of the 153 miners are believed to have a chance of survival as they might be at a higher position than the water level in the mine, rescue officials said.

On Friday afternoon, rescuers said they had heard the sound of tapping underground after completing drilling into the tunnel where a number of the trapped workers were believed to be located.

On Saturday afternoon, a team of four divers entered the pit to try to reach the workers. But they went only as far as 10 meters because visibility in submerged tunnel was bad, Xinhua reported.

Mud and steel bars left in the tunnel also complicated their efforts to reach the trapped men, the diver said.

In another recent mine mishap, the fugitive owner of a colliery in Yichuan county of Henan province turned himself in after defying a ban on production that led to a deadly gas blast.

Wang Guozheng surrendered to authorities on Friday evening, State broadcaster CCTV reported.

Fatalities caused by the explosion at Wang's mine rose to 20 over the weekend, with another 24 miners trapped underground. Chances of survival for the miners were slim, Xinhua reported.

Wang had been on the run after a blast hit the coal mine on March 31 as a result of an underground burst of coal and gas.

Wang, who is also chief of the local village committee, received a suspended jail term for the cover-up of an accident at the same coal mine on May 1 last year, Xinhua reported. Two miners were killed.

Amid the spate of mine disasters that hit the country in the past month, the authorities will launch a two-month national campaign to ensure safe work practices starting Monday, the State Council's work safety commission announced over the weekend.

Xinhua contributed to the story

CHINA DAILY