Families of 21 coal miners missing in an accident at an unlicensed
shaft were facing up to the news Friday that their loved ones were
unlikely to be found alive.
Two miners escaped from the Fuyuan Coal Mine in Yuncheng, north
China's Shanxi
Province, when water and gas flooded the shaft on May 4.
But provincial chiefs said there had been no contact with the
missing miners since the accident and rising water levels have
virtually snuffed out hopes they may have survived.
Safety officials were busy pumping out the water Friday -- which is
as high as 40 meters in places -- as anger mounted over allegations
of a cover-up the accident.
An
official with the provincial coal mine safety supervision
authorities told China Daily that they couldn't even be sure
just how many miners are missing in the new mine at Yuncheng,
located 500 kilometers south of provincial capital Taiyuan.
"We don't know the number of victims as the water level is till
rising," said the official, who would only reveal his name was
Chen.
"But the owner reported there was nobody in the flooded mine
because three or four workers escaped when the water leak first
occurred," Chen said.
Zhang Shunhe, the owner of Fuyuan Coal Mine, was unavailable for
comment Friday.
But an official with the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety
Supervision said nine workers died in the accident.
"Provincial safety authorities have reported the death toll twice
on eighth and 12th respectively," said administration official Zhao
Gejin.
Zhao said her administration received a report from local sources
on May 8.
Provincial and local authorities are immediately ordered to start
disaster relief and launch an investigation, she said.
Provincial safety official Chen said the 350-meter slope mine can
only hold about 5,000 cubic meters of water but over the past 10
days about 20,000 cubic meters have been pumped out.
"We don't know where the water comes from; maybe it comes from the
mines nearby or is underground water," said Chen.
The provincial government has ordered the local government of
Yuncheng and safety supervision authorities to step up efforts in
disaster relief and the probe into the causes of the accident.
China has closed down thousands of small coal mines in the past few
years in order to regulate coal production and improve mining
safety.
Small coal mines are usually run by private ventures or local
government, and these mines are more likely to ignore production
safety regulations.
(China
Daily May 18, 2002)