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8 die, 25 lost in mining mishaps in 3 provinces Ji Mi
1/1/2006 9:37

Ji Mi / Shanghai Daily news

Eight men were killed and 25 others missing in three separate mine mishaps across the country.

The eight deaths were confirmed yesterday at a flooded coal mine in Zuoyun County, Shanxi Province.

Investigators said workers drilled through to a hollowed-out area, leading to the accident.

Rescue work was continuing last night for another nine workers trapped in the mine, owned by the Baoyuan Mining Co Ltd.

The rescue work has mobilized more than 200 rescuers since the mine's three mine shafts flooded last Wednesday. Each shaft is about 200 meters long.

At the time, 22 workers were underground. Five escaped the mishap.

By yesterday morning, the remains of eight miners were recovered. Rescuers had pumped more than 20,000 cubic meters of water out of the shafts, local sources said.

Zuoyun turns out an annual 15 million tons of coal, one-third in Dianwan Town, they said.

The northern province is one of China's major coal producers.

In central China's Henan Province, the work safety authority in Anyang said yesterday a land cave-in at an iron mine left 11 workers missing.

The accident occurred last Monday, according to officials of the city's Administration for Work Safety.

The cave-in created a crater 100 meters by 50 meters. The average depth of the hole is 60 meters.

The subsidence plunged a street, eight shanty houses and some pig pens about 30 meters underground.

The victims and livestock were buried under rocks.

Of the 11 missing, eight were confirmed buried in the debris.

The administration blamed the cave-in on a pit deserted since 1992. Experts called it a geological disaster.

In another development, a gold mine flooded in eastern China's Shandong Province, leaving five people missing, the Beijing-based China Youth Daily reported yesterday. Five workers were rescued.

A mine shaft flooded Thursday morning in the Hexi Gold Mine in Penglai.