China rescues 29 from flooded coal mine - Summary

Mon, 22 Nov 2010

Beijing - Rescue workers pulled 29 people from a flooded coal mine in south-western China's Sichuan province Monday after they were trapped for about 24 hours.

Twenty-two miners were trapped at the Batian Coal Mine in Sichuan's Neijiang city early Sunday when water poured into a shaft, and a seven-member rescue team also became trapped in the mine later Sunday.

Workers continued pumping water out of the flooded shaft and had confirmed that all 29 missing people were alive by early Monday, the government's Xinhua news agency quoted officials as saying.

The first group of 13 was pulled out of the mine mid-morning and the rescue of the remaining 16 was completed by early Monday afternoon, the agency said.

A total of 35 miners were underground when the shaft flooded Sunday, but 13 of them managed to escape, earlier reports said.

The mine had recently been renovated to increase annual output from 50,000 to 60,000 tons, but according to Lin it was operating legally, state media said.

China's coal mines have a poor safety record, with more than 2,600 deaths recorded last year.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354590,flooded-coal-summary.html.