Rescue operation continues in northeast China coal pit with fatal fire
22/9/2008 16:17
Rescuers failed to find the bodies of 12 miners missing after a fire in a
coal mine in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Saturday.
A fire
broke out at about 3:30 am on Saturday at Fuhua Coal Mine in Hegang, a city in
eastern Heilongjiang Province, while 43 miners were underground. Twelve managed
to escape, but 31 were trapped.
Rescuers had found the bodies of 19 of the
miners as of 10 am today. Five of the corpses were brought to the surface late
on Saturday, according to the rescue headquarters.
Experts at the site said
the 12 trapped miners had little chance of survival as they had been trapped for
more than 30 hours, despite continuous work to control the fire, including
injecting liquefied carbon dioxide into the mine.
Rescuers had been forced
back by the fire and the increasing toxic gas, including carbon monoxide.
The
mine's owner, manager, a vice manager in charge of production and another in
charge of ventilation, and an engineer were in police custody. Their bank
accounts had been frozen, Wang Rui, vice mayor of Hegang, said.
The licensed
mine, in Xingshan District of Hegang, belongs to Fuhua Mining Co, Ltd, and has
an annual production capacity of 60,000 tonnes.
The city has ordered all its
coal mines to suspend operation pending inspections.Mine safety authorities are
investigating the cause of the blaze.
Xinhua
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