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A worker is carried out of the Longyun coal mine, the site of a rock burst accident, in Yuncheng County, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 21, 2018. Two people have died and 20 remained trapped following the rock burst accident happening Saturday night at the Longyun coal mine. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

JINAN, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Two people have died and 20 remain trapped following a rock burst Saturday night at a coal mine in Yuncheng County, east China's Shandong Province.

The burst happened at around 11:00 p.m. and destroyed part of a water drainage tunnel in the coal mine. At that time, 334 people were working underground, of which 312 were later lifted to safety, according to Zhai Minghua, an expert with Shandong Energy Group Co. Ltd, which owns the coal mine.

Rescue work started immediately after the accident. As of 11:00 a.m. Sunday, ventilation had returned to around 200 meters of the damaged part of the tunnel, with about 50 meters still to be repaired.

The search for the 20 trapped people and 2 bodies was hampered by the falling of fractured rocks in the tunnel, said Zhai.

The cause of the accident is being investigated.

Rock burst accidents are often caused by fractures in rocks due to mining.

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A worker is carried out of the Longyun coal mine, the site of a rock burst accident, in Yuncheng County, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 21, 2018. Two people have died and 20 remained trapped following the rock burst accident happening Saturday night at the Longyun coal mine. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

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A worker is carried out of the Longyun coal mine, the site of a rock burst accident, in Yuncheng County, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 21, 2018. Two people have died and 20 remained trapped following the rock burst accident happening Saturday night at the Longyun coal mine. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

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A worker is carried out of the Longyun coal mine, the site of a rock burst accident, in Yuncheng County, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 21, 2018. Two people have died and 20 remained trapped following the rock burst accident happening Saturday night at the Longyun coal mine. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next

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A worker is carried out of the Longyun coal mine, the site of a rock burst accident, in Yuncheng County, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 21, 2018. Two people have died and 20 remained trapped following the rock burst accident happening Saturday night at the Longyun coal mine. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

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