KEY POINTS:
XINTAI, China - More than 180 Chinese miners trapped down a flooded shaft have slim hopes for survival, but officials said they would press on with frantic rescue efforts after one of the nation's worst mine disasters.
Some 172 miners were pinned down in the mine in the eastern province Shandong after the rain-swollen Wen River overcame flood defences and surged down the shaft on Friday. Nine other miners were trapped in a shaft nearby.
By early Sunday, rescuers had sealed the over 50-metre gash in the levee after hundreds of troops piled sacks of cement, trees, rocks and even trucks into the gap.
But officials acknowledged hopes were dim for most, if not all, of the 172 men pinned down the Huayuan Mining Corp. shaft that goes as deep as 860 metres. Deputy province governor Wang Junmin said 150 of them were far below the surface.
"I'd guess that the miners down the shaft have no hope of survival," said the chief rescue officer, Zhu Wenyu, according to state media.
On Sunday, there was no fresh news of the fate of the nine miners in the other shaft.
Officials vowed to do all they could after the latest demonstration that the country's mines remain perilous even after a concerted safety crackdown.
"Spare no efforts in the rescue work," said the province Communist Party chief, Li Jianguo, according to state radio. "Every one that can be saved counts."
Pumps have been brought in from neighbouring provinces to speed efforts to clear the water around the mines.
The scene of weary emergency workers and anxious relatives echoed a mine accident in the United States, which has a much cleaner safety record but where three people have died trying to save six miners trapped in a Utah coal mine.
Mining is risky worldwide, but China's coal industry is deadlier than any other country's, with about 2163 coal miners killed in 1320 accidents in the first seven months of the year.
But even in a country that sees a numbing daily trail of mine deaths, the scale of this latest disaster stood out.
China's worst mine disaster was in 2005, when a gas explosion killed 214 miners in the country's northeast. Smaller accidents are so regular that they usually gain little more than brief mention in state-run media.
Most of the trapped miners were from rural areas in Tai'an City and surrounding areas, officials have said.
In past days, more than 200mm of rain have fallen in Xintai, about 570km southeast of Beijing.
China relies on coal for most of its energy needs. Demand for coal to feed rapid economic growth in the world's fourth-largest economy has led some mine operators to push production beyond safe limits, despite Beijing's efforts to crack down on corruption and lax enforcement of standards.
Last year, 4746 people were killed in thousands of blasts, floods and other mining accidents. While this year's record had been improving, the level is far worse than in other major coal-producing nations.
- REUTERS
