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Two bodies found after coal mine floods in NW China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-19 10:45

LANZHOU -  Two bodies had been found after 13 miners were trapped underground by a coal mine flooding in northwest China's Gansu Province, local authorities said Monday.

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As of 11 p.m. Sunday, two bodies had been discovered while the other 11 miners were still trapped at the Jijitaizi Coal Mine in Jinta County, Jiuquan City, said a spokesman of Jiuquan municipal government.

Sixteen miners were working down the shaft when the accident happened at 11: 30 a.m. and three managed to escape unharmed, said an official of the provincial work safety bureau.

The mine, which was under construction, was a private mine with business licenses, said an official of Jinta County's government.

More than 100 rescuers were still racing to pump water out from the flooded shaft to save the trapped workers. The owner of the coal mine is under police control.