China coal pit flood traps some 57 miners

BEIJING - A coal pit flood has trapped an estimated 57 miners in north China, Xinhua news agency said, the latest accident to strike the world's deadliest mining industry.

The flood struck on Friday morning in Shanxi province and 101 miners managed to escape, Xinhua said of the accident which it blamed on "excessive production".

"The mine had the problem of illegally mining beyond its approved coal seams," Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, was quoted as saying.

"Poor management should also be blamed as so far the managerial personnel of the coal mine could not provide an exact number of miners being trapped underground."

Xinhua said in an overnight report yesterday that 44 miners were trapped. Police had arrested nine of the mine's managers, but the boss had gone into hiding, it reported.

More than 3,300 coal mine blasts, floods and other accidents claimed nearly 6,000 lives across the country last year, as mine owners, motivated by soaring profits, pushed production past safe limits to fuel the booming economy.

- REUTERS