China's Leaders Call For All-Out Effort To Free More Than 100 Trapped Miners

SINO DAILY

China recorded about 2,700 mining fatalities in the first half of the year from explosions, shaft collapses, fires and other accidents.

Beijing (AFP) Aug 07, 2005
China's top leaders urged an all-out effort to save more than 100 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in southern China on Sunday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Xinhua said 102 miners had been trapped since Sunday afternoon in a shaft of the privately-run Daxing mine in Guangdong province.

Shortly after the accident, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao urged local officials to "take substantial steps and spare no efforts" to save the trapped miners, Xinhua said.

The flood happened in a tunnel about 420 meters (462 yards) underground and rescuers were drawing water out of the mine with pumps, said an official with the government of Meizhou city at the site. The official declined to give his name.

Xinhua earlier said the mine was in Xingning, which is near Meizhou and about 265 kilometres (165 miles) northeast of the provincial capital Guangzhou.

The unnamed official said previous information that 103 miners were trapped was based on a miscounting.

China's mines are considered the most deadly in the world, with safety often sacrificed to supply the fuel that is driving the country's rapid industrialization and economic growth.

China recorded about 2,700 mining fatalities in the first half of the year from explosions, shaft collapses, fires and other accidents.

Independent estimates say the real figure could be far higher as mines often falsify death counts to escape closures and fines.

In the worst mining disaster in the country's recent history, at least 203 workers were killed after a gas explosion at a coal mine in northeast China's Liaoning province last February.

The coal industry provides 70 percent of China's energy needs.

Earlier this month China ordered more than 5,000 unlicensed coal mines to suspend operations for safety inspections.

Strong demand for coal and the rising price of oil has encouraged many profit-driven mines to operate illegally even after being ordered to shut down over safety concerns.

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DOWN THE MINES

Over 100 Dead Or Missing In China Mine Disasters

Beijing (AFP) Jul 11, 2005
At least 63 miners died and 38 others are missing after three separate accidents in China's beleaguered coal mine industry, state media and a government agency said Monday.