China, April 08: The death toll from the flooding of a massive Chinese coal mine rose to 14 today as officials were forced to temporarily suspend rescue efforts due to fresh water leaks.
Hundreds of personnel still searching for 24 workers trapped deep underground since the March 28 accident in north China’s Shanxi province were forced to retreat when water began seeping through a ceiling in the shaft.
The setback has further hurt hopes that more men could be found, following the rescue earlier this week of 115 of their colleagues from the unfinished Wangjialing mine – an effort described by officials as a “miracle”.
“Pumps are not effective as the submerged area is like a huge swamp,” said Liu Dezheng, the spokesman for the rescue headquarters, according to the state Xinhua news agency.
“Oxygen in the mine is also low, although the gas level is safe.”
Mr Liu said the rescuers believed they were about 100 metres from two areas where the remaining workers could be trapped, but water levels remained quite high, making it tough to implement a large-scale operation.
Cramped conditions and the risk of a gas explosion in the mine have compounded the difficulty in locating the missing workers, with some emergency personnel falling ill.
Mr Liu had already tempered hopes for another miracle rescue late on Wednesday at a press conference, saying on the 11th day since the accident, the “upper bounds of survival” were being pushed.
“Everyone knows what that means,” he said.
Monday’s rescue of the 115 workers – some of whom had survived by eating tree bark, sawdust, paper and even coal – was a rare bit of good news for the coal mining industry, plagued by deadly accidents and a poor safety record.
—Agencies