Hope was running out for the 123 miners who remained trapped last night in a flooded colliery in southern China's Guangdong Province.
As rescuers pumped water from the Daxing Coal Mine, authorities suspended the mayors of Meizhou and Xingning cities, holding them responsible for the tragedy.
"The miners are trapped about 480 meters underground," said Guangdong Vice Governor You Ningfeng, who's in charge of the rescue operation. "The chance for their survival is slim after being stranded for more than 55 hours."
Even so, Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua said, "If there is a tiny hope, we will spare no efforts to rescue the trapped miners."
The accident occurred at 1:30pm on Sunday, when an estimated 15 million to 20 million cubic meters of water rushed into the mine shaft. Only four miners escaped, and the owners of the privately run colliery fled from the site and left no records.
"I can't remember anything about the flooding," survivor Zeng Huanbiao said from his hospital bed yesterday.
The 30-year-old miner, who was washed out of the pit, now suffers pneumonia, kidney and lung trauma and breathing difficulty, doctors said.
Experts from the state production safety watchdog and local departments have worked out a rescue plan that included reinforcing the pumping efforts and drilling spillways from adjacent pits.
Last night, four pumps were working round-the-clock, and five high-power devices will be installed. But the search for the miners may take a long time as the shaft is feared to be full of water.
Senior officials from the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection have arrived at the site to supervise the investigation.
The local government ordered all mines to stop production a month ago after a similar accident, but the owners of Daxing facility ignored the directive, authorities said.
"The flooding in Daxing Coal Mine is a grave production safety accident," Zhang Dejiang, secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, said yesterday.
Zhang blamed the accident on illegal production and inadequate management by local authorities.
(Xinhua)