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Scores trapped in China coal mine Hopes fading for Chinese miners
(1 day later)
Chinese emergency teams are searching for 172 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine, state media has reported. Rescuers are still working to reach 181 miners trapped since Friday down two flooded coal mines in China's Shandong Province but hopes are fading fast.
Officials told Xinhua news agency the workers have only a slim chance of survival in the mine, in Xintai city 450km (280 miles) south of Beijing. Torrential rain had caused a river to burst its banks, sending flood water cascading down an old shaft into the mine where the men were working.
The agency reported that hundreds of troops and police were at the scene helping rescue teams. Rescuers are desperately trying to pump the water out but the chances of finding anyone alive appear slim.
China's coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with more than 5,000 deaths reported annually. Chief rescuer Zhu Wenyu said he thought the miners had no hope of survival.
Hopes were also fading for the survival of nine other miners, trapped in another mine nearby. The main mine affected, where 172 miners are missing, was completely inundated and many of the missing appear to be stranded far below the surface.
Banks burst Nine other miners are also trapped at a nearby pit.
Describing the Xintai flood, local official Zhang Dekuan said: "There were 756 miners working under the ground when the accident occurred." These accidents are a reminder that Chinese coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, the BBC's Michael Bristow reports from Beijing.
Of these, 584 managed to escape from the pit, he said. Desperate protest
Xinhua reported that the mine, in eastern China's Shandong province, was overrun with surface water at about 1430 local time (0630 GMT) on Friday. The breach in the dyke on the River Wen was finally closed on Sunday and pipes and high-speed pumps have been installed, state media report.
The area was hit with about 205mm of rain, triggering flash floods and bursting the banks of the nearby Wen river. Continuing rain has frustrated rescuers' efforts at the mine href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6950000/newsid_6952700?redirect=6952754.stm&news=1&nbram=1&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&asb=1" onClick="javascript:newsi.utils.av.launch({el:this});return false;">Rescue teams
Floodwater from the river swamped the coal mine via an old shaft, Xinhua said. Shandong's Communist Party chief, Li Jianguo, called for "no efforts to be spared" during the rescue work, according to state radio.
About 2,000 Chinese army troops, armed police and miners are trying to shore up the river's banks. Distraught relatives of the missing miners have been demonstrating outside the Huayuan Mining Company in Xintai City, 450km (280 miles) south of Beijing.
Yelling abuse at guards, they tried to push their way through barriers after being refused access to the main flooded mine, and demanded that journalists be allowed to investigate properly what had happened.
Ren Hua, whose husband is one of those trapped, told The Associated Press that she had been called on Friday and told there was no problem and that water was being pumped out of the mine.
But when she arrived on Saturday with her 11-year-old son she found the pumping had not started.
"We want to know how much work has been done and whether they are drawing off the water," she added, weeping.
When the mines became flooded on Friday, amid flash floods brought on by rainfall of about 205mm, 584 miners managed to escape.