Report: Slim Hope for Most Trapped Miners

Chinese rescue workers pressed on Monday to reach 181 workers trapped in flooded coal mines since Friday but hope was fading many would be found alive.

The disaster struck Friday afternoon when a levee on the Wenhe River in east China’s Shandong Province burst, opening a huge hole. That sent water gushing into the 2,821-foot deep mine belonging to Huayuan Mining Co, trapping 172 miners, China Daily reported.

A nearby shaft also was flooded, trapping nine more miners.

Some 7,000 rescue workers involved in the effort at the scene in Xintai City were using heavy-duty pumps to drain out the water from the mines.

However, Xinhua news agency quoted provincial Vice Governor Wang Junmin as saying the chances of survival for about 150 miners trapped at a lower place in the shaft were very slim.

China Daily said Chinese soldiers and residents have already plugged the wide breach in the river levee, using cement, trees and even trucks.

All coal mines near the river bank have been ordered to suspend work and evacuate all miners. In the first seven months of this year, 2,163 coal miners have died in 1,320 accidents in China, the report said.